Graedel T E, van Beers D, Bertram M, Fuse K, Gordon R B, Gritsinin A, Kapur A, Klee R J, Lifset R J, Memon L, Rechberger H, Spatari S, Vexler D
Center for Industrial Ecology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.
Environ Sci Technol. 2004 Feb 15;38(4):1242-52. doi: 10.1021/es030433c.
A comprehensive contemporary cycle for stocks and flows of copper is characterized and presented, incorporating information on extraction, processing, fabrication and manufacturing, use, discard, recycling, final disposal, and dissipation. The analysis is performed on an annual basis, ca. 1994, at three discrete governmental unit levels--56 countries or country groups that together comprise essentially all global anthropogenic copper stocks and flows, nine world regions, and the planet as a whole. Cycles for all of these are presented and discussed, and a "best estimate" global copper cycle is constructed to resolve aggregation discrepancies. Among the most interesting results are (1) transformation rates and recycling rates in apparently similar national economies differ by factors of two or more (country level); (2) the discard flows that have the greatest potential for copper recycling are those with low magnitude flows but high copper concentrations--electronics, electrical equipment, and vehicles (regional level); (3) worldwide, about 53% of the copper that was discarded in various forms was recovered and reused or recycled (global level); (4) the highest rate of transfer of discarded copper to repositories is into landfills, but the annual amount of copper deposited in mine tailings is nearly as high (global level); and (5) nearly 30% of copper mining occurred merely to replace copper that was discarded. The results provide a framework for similar studies of other anthropogenic resource cycles as well as a basis for supplementary studies in resource stocks, industrial resource utilization, waste management, industrial economics, and environmental impacts.
本文描述并展示了一个全面的当代铜存量与流量循环，纳入了有关铜的开采、加工、制造、使用、废弃、回收、最终处置和耗散的信息。该分析以年度为基础进行，时间约为1994年，涉及三个不同的政府单位层级——56个国家或国家集团，它们共同构成了全球几乎所有的人为铜存量和流量；九个世界区域；以及整个地球。展示并讨论了所有这些层级的铜循环，并构建了一个“最佳估计”全球铜循环，以解决汇总差异问题。其中一些最有趣的结果包括：（1）在表面上相似的国民经济中，转化率和回收率相差两倍或更多（国家层级）；（2）铜回收潜力最大的废弃物流是那些流量小但铜浓度高的物流——电子产品、电气设备和车辆（区域层级）；（3）在全球范围内，以各种形式废弃的铜中约有53%被回收并重新使用或再循环（全球层级）；（4）废弃铜转移到储存库的最高比例是进入垃圾填埋场，但每年沉积在尾矿中的铜量几乎与此相同（全球层级）；以及（5）近30%的铜矿开采仅仅是为了替代被废弃的铜。这些结果为其他人为资源循环的类似研究提供了框架，也为资源存量、工业资源利用、废物管理工业经济学和环境影响的补充研究提供了基础。
