Veolia Group
  • Veolia.com
  • Campus
  • Foundation
  • Institute
  • Up To Us
In the world
  • Africa - Middle East
    • Africa
    • Middle East
    • Morocco
  • Asia
    • Greater China
      • Hong Kong SAR & Macau SAR
      • Mainland China
      • Taiwan
    • India
    • Japan
    • Southeast Asia
    • South Korea
  • Australia and New Zealand
  • Europe
    • Belgium
    • Bulgaria
    • Czech Republic
    • Finland
    • France
    • Germany
    • Hungary
    • Ireland
    • Netherlands
    • Poland
    • Portugal
    • Romania
    • Slovakia
    • Spain
    • Ukraine
    • United Kingdom
  • Latin America
    • Argentina
    • Brazil
    • Chile
    • Colombia
    • Ecuador
    • Mexico
    • Peru
  • North America
    • Canada
    • United States
Specialty Brands
  • Air Quality
  • Industries Global Solutions
  • Nuclear Solutions
  • OFIS
  • Sarpi
  • SEDE BENELUX
  • Seureca
  • Veolia Agriculture
  • Water Technologies

Resource reuse and recycling: limitations and potential opportunities

Thomas Graedel
Professor Emeritus of Industrial Ecology at Yale University

 

Materials today are often discarded after their first use. This is especially true of those materials in uses that are inherently dissipative, in complex assemblages where elements in low but vital concentrations are often lost in recycling, and for useful but toxic materials.

The status of reuse and recycling is presented, and five opportunities for improvement are presented: (1) eliminate dissipative uses of materials; (2) develop advanced technologies for reuse and recycling; (3) create suitable repositories for materials unsuitable for a circular economy; (4) design new products for circularity at end of life; (5) create and support international collaborative shipping and recycling chains.