Recycling
Metals, unlike energy products and organic products, do not perish with use, rather they change form and location. This means that metals can be recycled for reuse and, indeed, most are, since there is value to be extracted by collecting and recycling.
Although statistics on recycling rates are not as reliable as those on primary metals, it is believed that most of the metal that is available for recycling is currently being recycled. The difficulty associated with the recycling of a metal will be affected by the form and the extent of the dispersion of the metal in its end products.
The fact that recycled metals do not meet all of today's metal requirements is simply because metals' use is growing and the amount of metal used in products now becoming available for recycling (eg products produced 20 to 40 years ago) was much smaller than it is today. Even with 100 per cent recycling there would still be a large gap to be filled. The value of recycling is that it reduces the demand for new mineral reserves as well as energy inputs. Current recycling ratios - that is, the amount of metal consumption met by recycling - are summarised below.
| Metal | Recycling ratio (%) |
|---|
| Steel | 45 |
| Aluminium | 30 |
| Nickel | 25 |
| Lead | 55 |
| Copper | 30 |
| Zinc | 30 |
| Gold | 15 |
| Silver | 20 |
| (Source: Rio Tinto) |
Not all metals can be recycled. Some metal is lost through corrosion and in some products, metals are dispersed in a manner that does not make it possible to recycle all of the constituents. Some of Rio Tinto's products, such as titanium feedstock, salt, borates and talc, are sold in mineral form. These minerals are then used in combination with other minerals to make, for example, paper, ceramics and paint, rendering these minerals unavailable for recycling with current technology.
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