RV-09 · Research vertical
Secondary Recovery and Circular Minerals
Recycling, reprocessing and the limits of substitution for primary supply.
Every tonne recovered from scrap, tailings or urban stock is a tonne not mined. This vertical examines how far recycling, reprocessing and urban mining can substitute for primary extraction, the economics and policy instruments that unlock secondary supply, and the governance of material flows across borders.
The research question
How far can secondary recovery substitute for primary extraction, and which policy instruments unlock it?
Current themes
- RV-09.1
- Recycling economics and recovery rates across mineral systems
- RV-09.2
- Tailings and waste reprocessing as a secondary resource
- RV-09.3
- Urban mining and end-of-life product recovery
- RV-09.4
- Extended producer responsibility and design-for-recovery policy
- RV-09.5
- Transboundary material flows and circularity accounting