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’
RI-4_Interview_Ekberg.indd 41 03-05-13 14:12
