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Urban Mining in Times of Raw Material Shortage
Author(s) -
Klinglmair Manfred,
Fellner Johann
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of industrial ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.377
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1530-9290
pISSN - 1088-1980
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00257.x
Subject(s) - stock (firearms) , confiscation , material flow analysis , economic shortage , per capita , industrial ecology , business , natural resource economics , raw material , economics , sustainability , geography , waste management , engineering , ecology , population , linguistics , philosophy , chemistry , demography , archaeology , organic chemistry , government (linguistics) , sociology , political science , law , biology
Summary The present article investigates to what extent and level of success urban mining—the recovery of resources from anthropogenic stock—has been applied in the past during shortages of primary resources. As a case study, the Austrian economy during World War I—when raw materials indeed had to be substituted from secondary sources—is analyzed here. By means of material flow analysis, the management of copper, an important and relatively scarce metal that is difficult to substitute, is examined. The combination of increased demand for copper (for ammunition) and constraints on supply from sources other than the domestic anthroposphere highlights the importance of planning for and surveying urban mining activities. The results also indicate limitations to extracting a large share of copper from the anthroposphere, even in the face of a critical shortage. Although extreme measures, such as confiscation, were taken, only 1.7 kilograms of copper per capita (kg Cu/cap), amounting to perhaps as little as 10% of the anthropogenic stock, could be made available through the end of the war.