Sustainable Use of Metals

Article compares national strategies for sustainable use of the non-renewable resources

  • News 17.08.2020

The use of natural resources and the competition for scarce resources such as fresh water, land and raw materials are increasing worldwide. At the same time, global environmental problems such as climate change are increasing. The careful use of natural resources is therefore a central challenge. Metal is a sought-after resource worldwide. But how can this coveted raw material be used more sustainably? Various national authorities or governments have published strategies on how to use non-renewable resource more sustainably. However, the strategies differ widely and are hardly comparable. Moreover, there are no guidelines as to how such strategies should be designed.

Therefore, the authors of the article, Dr. Annika Weiser, Researcher at the Faculty of Sustainability of the Leuphana University, Manuel Bickel, Researcher in the Production and Consumption Systems Research Unit in the Sustainable Production and Consumption Division at the Wuppertal Institute, and the supervising professors of the Leuphana University, Prof. Dr. Klaus Kümmerer and Prof. Dr. Daniel J. Lang, analysed 37 national mineral resource-related strategy documents in the article "Towards a more sustainable metal use".
For the evaluation, the team of authors examined the strategies regarding how they deal with the status quo, their underlying motivations and the objectives they formulate. The researchers found that the strategies are often not sufficiently comprehensive regarding their coverage of the metals' life cycle and that their approach is not practice-oriented. "Strategies should be designed in such a way that they propose a precise description of the current state and a clear vision of the future. More importantly, they need to consider diversity, context and should utilise action-orientated knowledge to prepare for flexible change processes in a dynamic overarching sustainability transition," emphasise the authors.

The article "Towards a more sustainable metal use" in Resources Policy (Volume 68) published by ScienceDirect. Until the end of August it may be accessed free of charge for non-commercial purposes via the share link below.


Cookie Settings

Cookies help us to constantly improve the website for you. By clicking on the "Allow cookies" button, you agree to the use of cookies. For further information on the use of cookies or to change your settings, please click on More about the use and rejection of cookies.