Sustainable Metals Management - Securing Our Future - Steps Towards a Closed Loop Economy (Hardcover, 2006 ed.)

Metals have been essential to human civilisation for many thousands of years. With a broad range of applications they have found their way into virtually every aspect of our daily lives. Their durable and recyclable properties should make them ideal materials for a sustainable economy. But can metals live up to this promise? What are the economic, ecological, and social implications of their increasing use? How can we secure the supply of high-quality metals in the future? Do we need substitutes for scarce or especially toxic metals? We will face many such questions on the path towards sustainable production, trade and use of metals. This book brings together experts from many fields, with sometimes controversial opinions, to discuss the conditions and limits of a sustainable metals management. The ideas and goals of sustainability are not only explained theoretically, but also applied to various stages of the metal making and trading process.