 Eco-efficiency in primary metals production: Context, perspectives and methodsRene van Berkel Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2007, vol. 51, issue 3, 511-540 Abstract: Sustainability's imperative of economic development in tandem with social advancement and environmental protection is widely accepted, but much debate remains about its practical implications for the products, materials and technologies of the future. A sustainable development perspective on current patterns of metals use and reuse reveals competing goals. Creating greater intra-generational equity in social and economic opportunity will increase the global stock of metals in use, through primary metals production, which could threaten environmental sustainability. The sustainable development agenda for metal production and use is therefore multifaceted, including dematerialisation, design for disassembly and recycling, optimisation of end-of-life product recovery and recycling systems, and environmental innovations in primary metals production. Upon consideration of this context, opportunities for environmental innovations in primary metals production are focused upon here, for which eco-efficiency (EE) provides the starting point. Keywords: Sustainable development; Eco-efficiency; Cleaner production; Primary metals production (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:51:y:2007:i:3:p:511-540 DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2007.03.007 Access Statistics for this article Resources, Conservation & Recycling is currently edited by Ming Xu More articles in Resources, Conservation & Recycling from Elsevier |
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