Page 41 from: May 2013

41May 2013

What action can or should govern-
ments take to help boost research and
development relating to new recycling
technologies?
‘The answer to this is twofold. Most scientists

who are involved in recycling research are cur-

rently engaged in areas such as lifecycle analysis,

environmental management and other theo-

retical models. But this does not lead to practi-

cal solutions. Then there is a smaller group of

scientists which focuses on product develop-

ment, often within recycling and machinery

companies. But the problem there is that this

research and development is usually short-

lived; they have to come up with quick results.

If it does not make a profit within one or two

years, companies will abandon it again. By link-

ing the research on environmental analysis with

the development of actual recycling processes

and technologies, you can create a long-term

strategy which does not necessarily have to be

profitable within a matter of a few years but

which could perhaps yield a huge profit in five

or 10 years. What we need is a planning span,

thinking about what we want to do and where

we want to be in 10 years from now. You cannot

just sit back and leave things as they are. The

world needs changes. I think a multi-discipli-

nary approach combining people working on

new recycling technologies and processes with

those engaged in lifecycle assessments would

work best. Currently, they are not working

together enough.’

What can industry do to help stimulate
recycling R&D?
‘Industries should co-operate with govern-

ments – for instance, by setting up joint ven-

tures in which both parties participate on a

50/50 basis. In Sweden, my home country, the

recycling industry is already investing a fair

amount in the development of recycling tech-

nology and in funding research at technical

universities. But again, it is usually short-term

research they are funding, which I can under-

stand because for them it’s an economic neces-

sity. But there is a lack of long-term strategy.’

How do you anticipate that new re-
cycling technology will impact on the
industry in the next few years?
‘It is important for us to continue our efforts

to win back ever smaller amounts of precious

and scarce metals. But I realise that we are talk-

ing in that case about very small, niche markets.

If we could increase the recycling rate for pre-

cious and rare earth metals to almost 100%,

this would generate a huge leap in profits –

although not as much as if, for instance, you

increased steel recycling by 1%. The latter

would yield much greater profits.’

To what extent do you believe highly-
developed countries have a responsibil-
ity to bring recycling best practice to
the rest of the world?
‘This is a very difficult question to answer. For

India, for instance, I have suggested a solution

for environmental best practices in relation to

the country’s production processes which, in

the end, wasn’t accepted. I know that the devel-

oped world – notably Europe and the USA –

want India to implement the same environ-

mental requirements and specifications as they

have themselves. But, unfortunately, that is way

too expensive for a developing country which

is facing strong competition from other coun-

tries where labour is cheap. As a result, these

countries will not implement the standards

seen in the developed world. I know that this is

politically incorrect, but it is more important

to try to achieve something workable than to

try to force them to copy our Western stand-

ards. For developing countries, it is better to

introduce standards which are perhaps less

efficient but which will not ruin their ability to

compete.’

In 2005, with the adoption of the
Thematic Strategy on Waste Prevention
and Recycling, the EU set itself the goal
of becoming a Recycling Society. What
more can be done in terms of recycling
research and technology to achieve this
target?
‘We should co-operate much more closely with

the manufacturers – for instance, in the fields

of design for recycling and design for disas-

sembly. As I said earlier, we should make prod-

ucts easier to recycle.

In order to win back precious secondary raw

materials, sorting processes must become sim-

pler and more efficient. Currently, we still lose

a large amount of valuable material in the sort-

ing and shredding processes, such as when

recycling e-scrap. It has become much more

efficient over the years, but it is not optimal yet.

We really need new ways to recover the diluted

streams; otherwise, they are lost forever.

We also need to look at other technologies. The

recycling industry is a rather traditional indus-

try: to a large extent, it still uses the old methods

of smashing, banging and burning. But proc-

esses such as pyro-metallurgy and hydro-met-

allurgy could be very promising when used in

recycling processes. Some companies which

focus on recovery of precious metals already

use such technologies.

We should aim for a matrix in which we have, on

the one hand, dedicated recycling where you have

a plant which focuses on one thing only, and, on

the other hand, big recycling plants which can

process almost anything. We have to consider

how we structure our recycling processes.’

What do you wish most for recycling
research and technology?
‘In the short term, I think we should be more

open-minded – we need to think outside the box.

Currently, we are concerning ourselves only with

parts of the problem but we are forgetting to

look at the whole picture. Producers and recy-

clers should join forces to see how products can

be manufactured to make them really sustain-

able in all aspects. In this way, we can eventually

achieve a truly circular recycling economy.’

‘The recycling
industry is a rather

traditional industry.’

Prof. Christian Ekberg: ‘There is a lack of long-term strategy’

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