[GreenYes] Re: Peak Metal and Landfill Mining

[Alan Muller <amuller@no.address>]

At 07:29 PM 9/1/2006 -0400, David Biddle wrote:
>I have to agree with you, but by extension then, 
>you are saying that mining is absurd as 
>well...which, by the numbers I?ve been reading 
>of late, I agree with as well­except that we 
>need all that stuff to make this glorious world.
>
>db

Well, I really meant: to throw everything into a 
pile with layers of dirt and then "mine" it later 
when its all gummed up together seems far less 
reasonable than to sort it, or not commingle it 
in the first place....  (ie, you can use an eddy 
current gizmo to kick the aluminum off a belt 
stream of mixed recyclables, if you want to go 
that way, but to pick them out of landfill 
diggings--you'd have to screen, and rinse, and 
even then the cans would be full of dirt...you'd 
have to shred them and rinse more....doesn't seem reasonable to me.)

I don't think we are going to get to "peak metal" 
in the same way as peak oil--something like 20 
percent of the earth's crust is aluminum 
compounds, and there's lots of iron and other 
stuff.  And we aren't burning the metal up.  But 
the economics will gradually push towards 
reuse.  Most of the steelmaking in the US is just 
remelting, but I doubt that is true of the steel 
used in China, where the economy is at a different stage.

Alan


>on 9/1/06 6:04 PM, Alan Muller at amuller@no.address wrote:
>
>At 02:00 PM 9/1/2006 -0400, David Biddle wrote:
>I just read an article and listened to a podcast 
>on Landfill Mining by a senior editor with Wired 
>magazine from July of this year. Very 
>interesting, especially since it is from the 
>perspective of a lay ?expert.? I thought it 
>might be a nice bookend to all this talk about landfill mining.
>
>
>Interesting, but ultimately absurd--in my 
>opinion.  I think this stuff could be harmful if 
>it serves to promote indiscriminate dumping as a sustainable activity.
>
>am
>
>"It is better to remain silent and be thought a
>fool than to speak and remove all doubt."
>
>
>
>--
>David Biddle, Executive Director
><http://www.blueolives.blogspot.com>
>Greater Philadelphia Commercial Recycling Council
>P.O. Box 4037
>Philadelphia, PA 19118
>
>215-247-3090 (desk)
>215-432-8225 (cell)
>
><<http://www.gpcrc.com>http://www.gpcrc.com>
>
>Read In Business magazine to learn about sustainable
>businesses in communities across North America!
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>
>
>

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