Urban mining

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Processing plant for mineral waste

Urban mining ( English for mining in the urban area ) or Stadtschürfung refers to the utilization of the fact that a densely populated city as a huge source of raw materials is to be considered. Urban mining includes the identification of anthropogenic " deposits ", the quantification of the secondary raw materials contained therein , profitability calculations against the background of the available technical recovery options and the currently achievable and future forecast revenues, the economic processing and recovery of those identifiedRecyclable materials and the integral management of anthropogenic deposits. Here people are not only viewed as consumers, but also as producers of valuable resources .

The value chain in urban mining

Some of this “deposit” has been “mined” for a long time. The industry has been processing scrap into new metal over and over again for decades . From construction waste material is produced again for other construction purposes. Glass , paper and plastic have been recycled for years . Landfill mining , the dismantling of old landfills, can also be seen as a sub-area of ​​urban mining . An example of urban mining is the recovery of phosphoric acid from sewage sludge . Gold can also be recovered from residual materials (see “Recovery from residual materials” in the article on gold ).

Differentiation of urban mines

Depending on the period of use, the various stores can be divided into long-term and short-term urban mines.

The relevant differentiating feature when considering urban mines is - in the sense of a life cycle assessment - the period of release of the resources, i.e. the period in which the raw materials used in consumer and production goods are bound in time ( resource conversion cycle ).

Each of the four storage sites of an “urban mine” - production, consumption, disposal and processing - has an influence on the integral raw material management in the sense of urban mining and the release of resources: starting with a recycling-friendly product design prior to production ( e.g. cradle to cradle ), through the creation of new consumption strategies (such as leasing ) to directly secure raw materials, the creation of efficient industrial take-back ( e.g. REWINDO ) and household-related disposal systems ( e.g. waste separation and take- back systems ) to the development of efficient processing systems with which one High quality and quantitative recovery of raw materials can be ensured, as well as reuse strategies ( e.g. Restado ). The various mines can be divided into long-term and short-term "urban mines" depending on the retention period of the resources.

There are also clear differences for the various mines in the degree of recyclable material density, the effort required for processing for the use of secondary raw materials (material, raw material, energetic), the degree of depreciation due to previous consumption and the respective achievable income.

Use of urban mining

Urban mining reduces the dependency on rising raw material prices and imports. Waste disposal companies are already saving the German economy several billion euros through recycling . In the case of copper, it is estimated that around 300 million tons are currently used. The copper reserves are around 490 million tons. Thus, those stocks that are contained in infrastructure, buildings and medium-lived products are on a par with the natural reserves. Helmut Rechberger assumes that this ratio is similar for a large number of other raw materials.

Urban mining reduces the environmental impact . The recycling of various types of waste has saved over 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since 1990, around a quarter of the total amount of greenhouse gases that Germany has saved since then. The intelligent use of raw materials enables people in less developed regions of the world to sustainably improve their standard of living.

For the first time in history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. In all probability, two thirds of the world's population will live in cities in 25 years' time. Cities are growing rapidly where the income differences between urban and rural areas are high. This is especially true for developing and emerging countries. High investments are to be expected, especially in the areas of air, water and soil pollution control. Experts estimate the need for investment in the infrastructure of the world's metropolitan areas to be around 40 trillion dollars by 2030.

Urban Mining Congress

The first urban mining congress took place for the first time on March 25, 2010 in the Iserlohn location. It was planned as a cross-industry congress with an international focus and renowned speakers. 85 representatives from business, associations and universities gathered in the SASE congress center to address important future issues. The sustainability aspect (ecology, social issues, economy) was the focus of the event.

In the meantime, the congress took place for the 6th time in November 2015 and should continue to take place annually. In June 2014, the specialist congress took place for the first time at Messe Essen together with the accompanying Urban Mining Expo. In addition, the Urban Mining Award has been presented at the congress since 2011 .

Urban Mining Award

Graphics of the first URBAN MINING Award, presented to Klaus Töpfer.

The Urban Mining Award has been given since 2011 for the circular and environmental economy. Since then, the award has been presented annually at the Urban Mining congress by Urban Mining e. V. awarded. According to its own statement, it honors special merits and achievements for the promotion and implementation of a consistent circular economy . In addition, the Urban Mining Award promotes sustainable ideas, concepts and strategies for the circular and environmental economy. Well-known award winners so far have included Klaus Töpfer (2011), Udo E. Simonis (2012), Ranga Yogeshwar (2012), Peter Baccini and Paul H. Brunner (2013), Martin Jänicke (2013), Martin Faulstich (2014), Eric Mayer (2014) and Michael Braungart (2015).

Urban Mining e. V.

The Urban Mining e. V. is a non-profit association founded in March 2011 with headquarters in Essen . Among other things, the association is the organizer of the annual Urban Mining congress and the Urban Mining Awards presented at this event. Urban Mining e. V. promotes sustainable ideas, concepts and strategies for the circular and environmental economy, which in particular take into account the aspect of raw material recovery and the conscious use of the earth's natural resources . Further goals of the association are the creation of training and further education opportunities in the university sector.

Urban Mining e. V. was honored in 2013 by the Germany - Land of Ideas initiative with the “Excellent Location in the Land of Ideas” award.

Urban Mining Valley

The Urban Mining Valley project - by which the Ruhr area is meant - aims to promote innovations, business start-ups and the development of business models around the topic of urban mining. The project was launched in 2014 by a co-founder and board member of the Urban Mining Association. The association with Silicon Valley is intentional. Just as computer technology was the driver of innovation in the so-called 5th Kondratiev cycle , so in the 6th Kondratiev cycle this should be innovations in the raw materials and environmental sectors. Another aim of the project is to attract a large number of idea generators, innovators and investors through crowdsourcing and open innovation .

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Urban Mining  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Developing urban deposits at orf.at, accessed on May 9, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b S. Flamme, P. Krämer, G. Walter: From the circular economy to URBAN MINING - from product responsibility to integral raw material management. In: S. Flamme, B. Gallenkemper, K. Gellenbeck, S. Rotter, M. Kranert, M. Nelles (Eds.): 12th Münster Waste Management Days. Münster 2011, ISBN 978-3-9811142-2-5 , pp. 141-148.
  3. ↑ urban-mining.com
  4. ↑ Media release from the building department of the Canton of Zurich: Converting sewage sludge into raw material: New process suitable for industrial production. June 3, 2019, accessed October 14, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Reuse building materials. Retrieved April 22, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Helmut Rechberger : Urban Mining is more. In: MüllMagazin. No. 2, 2009, p. 2. (Category: Auf ein Wort), Rhombos-Verlag, ISSN  0934-3482 (online) .
  7. ↑ urban-mining-expo.de ( Memento from August 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Homepage of the award
  9. ↑ um-technologies.com ( Memento from October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ^ The Advisory Council for Environmental Issues ( Memento from June 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), ( SRU ), accessed on June 18, 2014.
  11. ↑ About Michael Braungart ( Memento from September 28, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Homepage of the Urban Mining Association
  13. ↑ The Urban Mining e. V. ( Memento from October 16, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Germany - Land of Ideas .
  14. ↑ Homepage of Urban Mining Technologies from Dortmund ( Memento from February 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive )