| GRN Recycle Talk FAQ Answer |
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 13:32:40 -0500 (EST) From: FRIEDMAN.FRED@EPA.GOV (Fred Friedman) Subject: Re: Metals recycling (Boohie)
March 20, 2000
Dear Boohie,
Metals consumption increases with industrialization of developing countries, worldwide population growth and the creation of material goods to address markets to increasing population, and with the advance in the world trade in scrap metals.
Why won't we run out of supplies of metals? Who says we won't, . . . . sometime? We will. However, materials substitutions e.g. of plastics for metals in auto and packaging manufactures, as well as more advanced extractive technology and recycling capabilities, will forestall this for far longer than you would imagine.
Metals or nonsustainable materials and will eventually be replaced with materials of similar properties. But at present, production of primary (virgin) and secondary (recovered) iron, copper, zinc, only increases. Heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, etc.) are a different story.
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