Urban mining allows us to salvage materials of which there is a finite supply, and limits the environmental impact of their disposal. Crucially, it also avoids extraction of additional materials, which damages ecosystems and can cause pollution, among other things.
Think about the city. It is typically an aggregation of things - people, buildings, infrastructure and vehicles. The city is a magnet of consumption. Think about the vast amount of goods and services, utilities and data consumed by the global built environment day after day. Cities have a multitude of inputs - roads, ports, railways, airports, cables and pipes that bring these things into and out of the city. Think about the amount of resources used to build that environment and run all of the systems modern buildings use.
All of the physical things in the city have come from somewhere and from a natural resource by a typically linear means of consumption; mine, process, manufacture, use and dispose. One commentator said that when you 'throw things away', there is 'no away' - all non-biodegradable goods consumed by people have been disposed of somewhere on our planet. This model is not sustainable and if you search for the 'Great Acceleration' you'll see the shocking extent of our global consumption and the negative impact on the planet. It all needs an urgent re-think and our adoption of circular strategies alongside the energy transition are all part of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Circularity seeks to re-engineer the economy through re-using, re-purposing and recovering goods and materials. It is developing new ideas like urban mining, where the city becomes our resource for materials in the future, interrupting the linear concept of consumerism to actively reduce waste and extract greater value from the products we consume. An example of how strategy can be adjusted to circular principles is the adoption of urban mining which is presenting real opportunities and even the major mining companies of the world are participating in the recovery and refining of metals such as copper to sell back into the value chain. The biggest mine in the world containing the largest volume of metals and resources may no longer be in a remote part of the world, but in our cities all around us. Unlocking that wealth, designing for end of life and materials recovery must be the revised strategy hand in hand with energy transition.
This clip demonstrates how we are helping our clients in the cities. How can we help you?
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