The Kroger Co., often just referred to as Kroger, is a popular American supermarket chain first founded in 1883 in the Ohio city of Cincinnati. It is one of the largest grocery store chains in the United States with more than 3,600 stores. Kroger comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, including supermarkets, department stores, hypermarkets, and convenience stores. Just like a majority of other supermarket chains throughout the United States, Kroger is taking a number of necessary steps to bump up its sustainability record and become more environmentally friendly. This includes opening up a lot of recycling ports in grocery stores and initiating a program to limit the utilization of plastic bags for groceries. Listed below are just a few of the ways that Kroger is taking a stand to become more sustainable and protect the environment for generations to come.

1 ) Sustainable Seafood Policy. As one of the largest traditional grocery retailers in the United States, Kroger realizes the important role it plays in the responsible sourcing of all seafood for products. As such, Kroger will not purchase seafood that has been illegally caught or comes from unregulated fisheries. In 2009, Kroger partnered with the World Wildlife Fund to find adequate sustainable fisheries to source seafood from. Kroger also complies with the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices Program in regards to industry accepted guidelines for all farmed raised seafood.

2 ) Carbon Footprint and Energy Reduction. Kroger has been using a lot of new technology in their stores to increase energy efficiency and decrease their carbon footprint. For example, all stores built after the year 2000 consumer 30 percent less energy. All stores are equipped with LED lighting and motion sensors. There are also skylights to increase natural lighting, control systems for all HVAC and lighting systems, and a number of Energy Star appliances.

3 ) Reducing Waste. One of the primary sustainability priorities for Kroger’s is waste. Since 2010, the grocery chain has been making a number of strides in reducing waste, including reducing packaging, diverting waste from landfills, and recycling plastic bags. For example, all food scraps from meat and deli departments are picked up by local companies along with old produce to be composted. As well in 2010, Kroger manufacturing plants have been able to reduce waste sent to landfills by more than 20 million pounds – a 30 percent reduction since 2009.

4 ) Reducing Plastic Bag Use. Kroger is always looking for ways to reduce the number of plastic bags used and help customers make the transition to reusable bags. By 2014, Kroger wants to save one billion plastic bags via education, signage, and aiding in changing customer habits. Kroger has a “Fill the Bag” training to teach employees how to optimally fill plastic grocery bags so not too many are used, reducing the number of plastic bags at retail locations. In 2011, over five million reusable bags were sold.

5 ) Transportation Efficiency. Kroger is always looking for new, more efficient ways to transport products to stores throughout the United States. The company’s fleet consists of 8,200 trailers and 1,200 tractors, plus there are over 2,500 third party tractors and trailers utilized for product deliveries. By 2010, Kroger was able to improve fleet efficiency by almost ten percent. The goal is to improve total fleet efficiency by 40 percent by the year 2014 by employing fuel-saving strategies, routine maintenance to ensure all equipment is at peak performance, and reducing the total number of miles traveled.

6 ) Food Safety. Kroger believes food safety to be a top priority in all stores; ensuring customers receive fresh, wholesome, and safe food. The supermarket chain has put in place a number of best practices to ensure the safety of all food items. For example, bi-monthly food safety review audits are done in every store to ensure food safety.

7 ) Animal Welfare. Kroger has made a strong commitment to their business practices, including the human treatment of all animals from the farm to the table. Kroger does not currently operate farms or animal processing facilities, but ensure that all suppliers meet the Food Marketing Institute’s Animal Welfare standards and guidelines.

8 ) Renewable Energy. In 2010, Kroger completed its very first wind energy project with two new installed wind turbines in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for Kroger’s Turkey Hill Dairy. The turbines will supply 25 percent of all annual electricity needs, enough to produce 15 million gallons of ice tea and six million gallons of ice cream. In terms of solar energy, in 2011 Kroger completed the first phase of installing solar photovoltaic systems on the roofs of four stores and one distribution center. It will produce around 900 kilowatts of solar energy capacity.

9 ) Customer Sustainability. Kroger Manufacturing operates a number of certified organic processing facilities. Kroger has also partnered with HarvestMark to enable customers to learn about where produce sold at all Kroger stores is grown. Kroger also works with a number of local farmers and suppliers to provide locally produced goods to all grocery stores. Customers can look for “locally grown and produced” signs around the stores.

10 ) Portland Kroger LEEDs the Way. A Kroger store in Portland, Oregon was able to reach LEED Silver Certification as it reached the environmental sustainability guidelines set up by the United States Green Building Council. It is the first store to achieve this rating and features items like increased insulation along exterior walls to decrease energy costs, water-saving fixtures in kitchens and bathrooms, skylights, efficient refrigeration and ventilation systems, and concrete floors that do not necessitate chemicals for cleaning. While the renovations cost more than normal renovations, the store will make it back tenfold in energy savings. According to Justin Doak, the manager of the LEED for Retail program, “[Supermarket] energy bills are so high because of refrigeration that they are constantly looking for ways to become more efficient. So, it’s a little more money upfront in construction costs but tremendous savings in the long run. And it’s the right thing for the environment.”

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com.

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As you know, population is straining our natural resources a lot. There are only a few resources left for our future generation, some of which are facing extinction. If you want to give your children the same standard of living that we have enjoyed, you must preserve these natural resources. So it is inevitable for us to go green.

Internet service will help you to lead a Green Life. You will be able to use the power of Internet to decrease even global warming. Follow these tips for a green living. They will help you to save your money and earth.

1. Switch on to Online Shopping
If you are able to buy some of your things online and don’t use vehicles on the road, you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It will help you to save your fuel and time.

2. Use of Electronic Invoices
Electronic billing system helps you to save a great amount of paper by avoiding the need for printed invoices. These electronic invoicing will also help you to save your time to reach and pay the bill. The real environmental cost of traditional invoicing is much greater than that of a paper. The printed bills also need ink and energy to be printed and fuel to be transported to the customers. So by using electronic invoices you can save your paper, energy, fuel, time and money.

3. Use of Second Hand Books
The Internet is an absolutely reliable source to search and find and buy what your essential goods. If you are a student, your textbooks take big amount from your budget. A student spends a very huge sum each year on textbooks and notebooks. To lessen the costs of it, you can search for new or used textbooks at online markets. If you want to a search a textbook, all you need is the ISBN number of the book you are searching for. You can also save money and decrease the use of paper by using used books and sell those books which you don’t want to keep any longer at home.

4. Sell or Recycle Your Electronic Equipment
The management of electronic wastes is more important because of the increasing number of electronic equipment, we use. There are some web sites from which you can learn how to sell or recycle your old electronic equipment.

5. Giving Public Awareness
Use all the search engines of social network such as twitter, post blogs, send emails etc. to share the idea of recycling and reuse.

More Green Tips
Internet is an ultimate source for learning Do It Yourself and green tips. Green living Tips and The Daily Green are among the millions of web sites to reach green living tips and they’re all free.

These simple tips will help you to reduce your energy use and budget which means less dependence on the fossil fuels and paper.

Please remember these 3R’s to reduce wastes and live green.

The three R’s namely Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Manage wastes means not to produce it. This can be done by careful shopping. This is Reducing.

Reusing makes economic and environmental sense to reuse products.

Recycling is a series of steps to sell a product as a new one. Begin it from home itself.

These 3R’s help us to reduce the amount of waste we throw away and also conserve natural resources and energy.

Article by Rebecca Jones, a blogger by profession. She loves writing on topics related to parenthood and technology. Beside this she is fond of automobiles. These days she is busy in writing an article on sustainable design style.

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Apps were created for two reasons: to entertain you and to make your life easier. There are thousands of different apps for the Droid and iPhone market to make every aspects of your life simpler like travel, shopping, eating and exercising. But there are apps out there that can not only help you but the world we live in. Downloading apps that could potentially help your quest to save the environment just got easier; here are few apps to download:

Light Bulb Finder: A huge way to help the environment (and your energy bill) is too change out your home’s light bulbs to more energy efficient bulbs. Light Bulb Finder is easy to use and helps you to find the best and most energy efficient bulb replacement for whatever type of light you own. Another feature is the ability to purchase the light bulb through the app or help you find at your local retail store! Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

iRecycle: Just about anything and everything can be recycled or reused. iRecycle is an easy to use recycling app that shows you how to and where to recycle an item or product. Choose from their menu and based on your location or zip code, find where to drop off your item. Also you can read eco-friendly news and articles with this app. Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Locavore: An awesome app for the foodies out there. Based on your location, Locavore will point you to the nearest farm or farmers market. Also find out what foods are in season and view a delicious collection of recipes displaying different in season foods. Sounds yummy! Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Treehugger: Based on the very popular and ecofriendly, the team from www.treehugger.com created an app and good one at that! Stay abreast of all things green with news stories, Twitter feeds, podcasts and special articles. Now go hug the nearest tree. Free. Available for Droid and iPhone users.

Not only are all these apps free and available for iPhones and Android users, but they are apps that actually make a difference. Download now and save the environment one app at a time. Happy green downloading!

Article by Laura Backes. Laura enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internet providers in her area. You can reach her at: laurabackes8@gmail.com.

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Mexico City has announced plans to close one of the world’s largest open-air garbage dumps as part of an initiative to convert more of the city’s waste into reusable materials or energy.

By the end of the year, garbage trucks will no longer be allowed to drop trash at the Bordo Poniente, a massive dump that has received more than 76 million tons of trash since it opened after the devastating 1985 earthquake.

At its peak, the dump received about 12,700 tons of garbage daily. A recycling separation facility and composting plant will remain open at the site. According to a plan announced by city officials, a large concrete company, Cemex SAB, will buy 3,000 tons of trash daily to convert into energy.

Mexico City is searching for other sites to dump the remaining garbage until a new recycling program is instituted in 2012. Meanwhile, Seattle became the latest U.S. city to ban plastic grocery bags, and city officials also passed a 5-cent fee on paper bags in an attempt to reduce its waste stream.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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Take a look around your neighborhood this holiday season and you may notice something different. It’s a subtle change, but a significant one nonetheless.

You’ve probably noticed this change at your local retailer, too.

What change, you ask?

This year, more people and businesses than ever are using light-emitting diode (LED) holiday lights to celebrate the season. It is a trend that has been growing for years, particularly as LED technology continues to improves and costs come down.

LED lights offer significant environmental advantages as compared to traditional incandescent lights. For instance, LEDs run much cooler, reducing fire risk; LEDs last longer and use less energy, saving you money on your electric bill.

But with the growth of LED lighting comes the inevitable question: what becomes of the old lights?

In Minnesota, the Recycling Association of Minnesota (RAM) hosts a statewide project called “Recycle Your Holidays.” It allows Minnesota residents to drop off their unwanted holiday lights at more than 400 locations. Businesses also can sign up to become a collection site, receiving a free bin and free pickup whenever the bin is full.

The program is in its third year with a lofty goal for 2011: to recycle 200,000 pounds of lights and sign up at least 400 more businesses to be collection sites.

What’s surprising is that it’s the only statewide light recycling program in the country.

There are communities and organizations across the country that offer light recycling. Like this one, and this one. Or visit Earth911.com for recycling options in your area.

There also are a number of retailers that offer recycling programs – some may even offer discounts on LED lighting packages. But you’d better hurry – only a few more weeks until Christmas!

So tell us, have you made the switch to LED holiday lights?

Article by Erin Mathe, appearing courtesy Xcel Energy Blog.

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Houston is one of the major cities in Texas. As part of a state-wide effort to become more cleantech friendly, including the use of renewable energy and energy efficient products, Houston has been doing what it can to work toward sustainability. This includes making changes in buildings, throughout transportation, the city’s infrastructure, increasing renewable and secure energy supplies, and increasing environmental stewardship. Between the years of 2004 and 2007 for example, Houston reduced its total kilowatt per hour usage by 5.8 percent even has businesses and neighborhoods expand. Here are some of the highlights of what Houston has been doing.

1 ) Solar Initiatives. One of the main objectives in Houston has been to accelerate the overall deployment of solar power throughout the entire region. Houston is one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar America Cities. As such, Houston has been striving to accelerate the overall adoption of various solar energy technologies to ensure a more secure and much cleaner energy future. The Houston Advanced Research Center is in charge of the solar initiatives in the city. For example, there was a 100 kilowatt solar system implemented in the George R. Brown Convention Center that was funded by BP, Houston Endowment, and CenterPoint.

2 ) LED Traffic Lights. Like a number of other major cities throughout the United States, Houston has been looking to replace current traffic signals at over two-thousand intersections with energy efficient LED lights. By the year 2007, there were approximately 400 intersection lights changed, mostly throughout Houston’s downtown district. The rest were completed by 2009. The new lights would increase electricity reduction by 90 percent and the LED bulbs last seven years as opposed to one year. It has saved the city $3.6 million in annual electricity costs.

3 ) Green Building Programs. Houston has been instrumental in the acceleration of the market transformation of green buildings through private sector partnerships and leadership. In June 2004, for example, the mayor passed the Mayor’s Resolution whereby all new buildings in the city and all major renovations to existing buildings needed to be LEED certified. In another example, the group Houston Hope helps to ensure that new and existing homes meet Energy Star standards, which will lower the utility bills for many families.

4 ) Residential Energy Efficiency Program. Houston has implemented a “neighborhood by neighborhood” program for energy efficiency that targets low income homeowners and helps them to reduce their net energy consumption. In more than ten neighborhoods around the city, more than five-thousand homes have been properly weatherized, allowing for up to a 20 percent energy reduction during the summer months. There is an Agencies in Action program that allows for more comprehensive retrofits for homes, including new, energy efficient appliance replacements while recycling old appliances.

5 ) Fuel Efficient and Clean Vehicle Initiatives. Houston has been looking to lead the way in the migration toward hybrid vehicles to drastically increase the amount of cleaner emissions as well as fuel efficiency throughout the roads. The city had a goal to ensure than 50 percent of its non-emergency administrative fleet, which is around 2,800 vehicles, is energy efficient. Currently, there are over 500 hybrids in the fleet, including Toyota Priuses and Ford Escapes. By the year 2011, the Houston Metro is looking to make a purchase of one-hundred hybrid buses to increase the total to just fewer than 450 in the fleet. By the end of 2008, this number was up to 142.

6 ) Million Trees Initiative. One of the main sustainability projects Houston had was its Trees for Houston project to increase the number of trees that are planted as well as sustained throughout the city through a strong private – public partnership. Between October of 2008 and January 2009, the city planted 100,000 trees and put aside $750 thousand in a budget to maintain them. By 2010, there is over 930,000 trees planted throughout the city through a partnership that includes Greater Houston Partnership, Apache, and Trees for Houston.

7 ) Diverting Waste from Landfills in the Area. The city of Houston implemented a large recycling program aimed at diverting certain types of waste from landfills and sending them to recycling centers. Houston has earmarked the potential to divert approximately 150 thousand tons of waste annually, which is around 20 percent of total waste from landfills in the area. The city has set up a number of composting and mulching facilities throughout all the quadrants of the city to take in and process the waste.

8 ) BP Alternative Energy North American Headquarters Moved to Houston. In October of 2008, BP America made a statement that Houston, Texas was to become the headquarters of their BP North America Alternative Energy center. “Houston is a global centre for the energy industry and it is now emerging as a global centre for new and alternative energy technologies,” said Robert Lukefahr, President of BP Alternative Energy North America. “Locating our group in Houston will position this team in the heart of the power industry and supports BP’s long-term commitment to the Houston area.”

9 ) Houston Recognized as a Leading Purchaser of Green Power in the United States. In January of 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), made the announcement that Houston appeared at the top of its list of the 25 largest purchasers of green power. Houston received this award by creating a number of energy saving initiatives that also resulted in a number of cost savings. At the time the award was given, Houston was purchasing enough alternative power to meet a total of 20 percent of its electricity needs across operations. Former Houston mayor Bill White (2004-2010) said, “Purchasing green power helps our City become more sustainable and cost-effective, while also sending a message that supporting clean sources of electricity is both a sound business decision and an important choice in reducing harmful emissions.”

10 ) Houston Renewable Energy Group. In 1999, the Houston Renewable Energy Group (HREG) was established with the objective of educating the area about renewable energy. The purpose of the HREG is to “Further the development of renewable energy and related arts, sciences, and technologies with concern for the ecological, social, and economic fabric of our community and states. This shall be accomplished through the exchange of ideas and information by means of meetings, publications, and public displays. HREG shall serve to inform public, institutional, and governmental bodies and seek to raise the level of public and government awareness of its purpose.”

Article by Shawn Lesser, Co-founder & Managing Partner of Atlanta-based Watershed Capital Group – an investment bank assisting sustainable fund and companies raise capital, perform acquisitions, and in other strategic financial decisions. He is also a Co-founder of the GCCA Global Cleantech Cluster Association ”The Global Voice of Cleantech”. He writes for various cleantech publications and is known as the David Letterman of Cleantech for his “Top 10″ series. He can be reached at shawn@watershedcapital.com

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Electronic waste, or “e-waste“, is a major problem of the information age. As consumers continually upgrade their electronic devices, the old devices are discarded and usually end up in a toxic e-waste dump, usually located in a poor developing country. Such a dump is located in the capital city of the African country, Ghana. Toxic chemicals from the dump, known as the Agbogbloshie scrap metal site, have affecting the nearby community market, church headquarters, and school. Contaminants include lead, cadmium, and others, some at levels over 50 times higher than risk-free levels.

Electronics are incinerated at the Agbogbloshie site, and the copper is usually recycled. Soil sampling was done from the surrounding properties, and the samples were tested for iron, magnesium, copper, zinc, cadmium, chromium, nickel, and lead, all metals that can be found in modern electronics. Dangerously high levels were found at the school and local market.

The Ghanan researcher, Atiemo Sampson, reported the results at the Solving the E-Waste Problem Summer School, hosted in Europe by Philips and Umicore to a group of dedicated graduate students. Mr. Sampson stated that similar e-waste sites are being developed in other locations in Ghana. Much of the e-waste is brought in from overseas, particularly North America and Europe.

“Until now, Ghana has not regulated the importation and management of e-waste,” said Mr. Sampson. “Although Ghana is a signatory to the Basel Convention (which regulates the import and export of hazardous wastes), rules are only now being incorporated into our national legal framework. The government hopes to have new rules in place next year.”

One problem is that operating an e-waste site can be highly lucrative. The metals recovered can be worth a lot of money, such as gold, copper, and silver. “The sheer number of people engaged in informal recycling in the Agbogbloshie scrap yard makes it increasingly unthinkable politically to eject them from that location,” added Mr. Sampson. “The livelihood of many people now depends on the income generated by these activities at e-waste scrap yards. Therefore any solution must recognize their role and focus on improving health, safety and environmental standards.”

International shipments of e-waste are outlawed, but occur nonetheless by unscrupulous handlers. Students at the conference in Europe agreed that the e-waste problem requires technological, behavioral, economic, and political solutions. Manufacturers also need to incorporate life-cycle analysis in their products.

Article by David A. Gabel, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.

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This is the third and final part of my blog on critical metals and cleantech (read Part 1 and Part 2). This one aims to give an overview of where the opportunities are presenting themselves and those that are leading and innovating in the sector today. For many of these metals, processes to recycle post-industrial waste are fairly well established. It’s in the post-consumer waste streams where the opportunities lie, and where the challenges are harder to overcome.

Oakdene Hollins recently conducted a review of opportunities for the recovery of 14 different critical raw materials. A few results from that review are shown below, along with the estimated size of the market. Some of these opportunities are simply a need for greater implementation of existing technologies e.g. aerospace, batteries and packaging; whereas others represent longer term opportunities.

Recovery opportunities for select critical metals

Indium, in the table above, and Gallium, also identified as a recycling opportunity by Oakdene, already have well established recycling routes for post-industrial waste from the production of LCDs. Around two thirds of the metal is wasted during LCD production but with efficient recycling processes this waste is captured and recycled and actually contributes over one half of global supply.

As I mentioned in Part 2, these metals are also by-products of base metals which means that investing in recyclers is often the best way for investors to gain exposure to these commodities. So if these metals were to experience the kind of price increases that we’ve seen for rare earths, Oakdene says it would positively impact on several recyclers and smelting waste refiners: 5N Plus, a Canadian company; Dowa Mining, Japan’s biggest supplier of Indium; Umicore, a diversified metals recycler based in Belgium; and Asahi Holdings, a Japanese recycler of rare and precious metals.

Oakdene case study: 5N Plus and Indium
TSX-listed 5N Plus has a process to recycle tellurium and indium from solar panels. It collects and removes the tellurium and indium coated glass from solar panels, crushes it and pours acid onto it to dissolve the metals. The glass fragments are then removed and the metal rich solution is refined and processed to extract high purity metals. With the introduction of flat screen TVs, demand for indium has grown and although the concentrations of the metal are much higher in solar panels than they are in flat screen TVs, the 5N process has the potential to be applied to this post-consumer waste stream too when the first generation are thrown out in the next few years.

The urgency to increase recycling of indium is put into sharp focus by Swiss VC firm Mountain Cleantech which says there’s only 11,000 tonnes of indium which can be exploited worldwide – and primary annual production is 550 tonnes.

Rare earths (Dysprosium and Neodymium) remain very difficult to recover economically because they are found in such small quantities in the various waste streams. Operations that recover them from post-consumer waste are currently almost non-existent.

Extracting them from the rest of the product they’re contained in, such as an air conditioner or hard disk drive, is the first step. After that they must undergo a chemical process to refine them. It’s time consuming and costly and many joint ventures and projects have been initiated to try to find more efficient processes. Here’s an overview of who’s currently doing what:

• French chemicals giant Rhodia is particularly active in this area. It’s been researching and developing processes to recycle rare earths from lamps and magnets, and is collaborating with Umicore to recycle them from hybrid car batteries.

• Osram, a lighting manufacturer owned by Siemens, holds a patent for a method to extract rare earth materials from lamps.

• Reconserve, part of Chemconserve in Holland, claims to be the first company to have developed and pilot-tested technology to recover rare earth elements from fluorescent lamps.

• Dowa Holdings appears to be researching methods to extract rare earths from WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment).

• The University of Birmingham has developed a “hydrogen decrepitation” technique to reduce a rare earth magnet to powder prior to elemental separation or for blending back into a magnet formulation.

Oakdene case study: Hitachi
Hitachi is piloting a process to extract them from air conditioning motors and from hard disk drives, and they’re also developing a refining process. The Hitachi process is partly manual and partly automated, as it involves cutting open the hard disk drives and removing the rare earth magnets, so that they can be recycled using metallurgical processes. It may be possible to use this technique with larger magnets such as those from electric vehicles and wind turbines, but the preferred technique with these is likely to be ‘re-manufacture’ and reuse wherever this is possible, and materials recycling when this is impractical. The lifetime of the latter products is substantial (10-40 years) and therefore there will be a time lag before such materials become available. Hitachi said it expects recycling to meet 10 percent of its needs by 2013 from almost zero now.

Platinum group metals are used in items such as flat screens and hard drives. In the UK, Veolia is trialing the recovery of platinum group metals from street dust which has come from car exhausts fitted with catalytic converters, which often contain platinum as the catalyst. Veolia will use two technologies — conventional soil washing, which removes plastics and metals and glass from street sweepings, and a technique to remove the metals from the fine dust that is left after they have washed the soil. It hopes to process thousands of tonnes of the dust every year.

Zinc, though not in Oakdene’s table (it has ‘moderately critical’ status currently) remains one of the most in-demand metals with recycling contributing around 30% of supply. I wanted to mention it here because of the interesting technology one company is using to recycle it (from post-industrial, rather than post consumer, waste this time).

ZincOx, an AIM-listed company, has a zinc mining project in Yemen but is shifting its focus to recycling. Recycling is obviously greener, but the company’s novel recycling technology, which allows it to recover zinc along with pig iron from steel waste, means it makes more sense economically too.

The ZincOx process allows it to efficiently extract the metals from electric arc furnace dust (EAFD), a hazardous by-product of the steelmaking process, without the need for government subsidy which many EAFD recyclers rely on. Recovery rate and quality is higher than conventional recycling processes and it produces no waste. It’s currently developing its first plant in Korea, which has an abundance of EAFD, give the size of its steel industry. When phase 1 of this project is complete in Q2 next year, it will process 200,000 tonnes per annum and will be the biggest of its kind in Asia. ZincOx has an off-take agreement with Korea Zinc, which will take all of the group’s production phase 1.

Returning to our post-consumer focus though now and there are several issues that Oakdene encourages investors looking at opportunities in this space to bear in mind.

Key issues for recycling critical metals from post-consumer waste

• Collection & separation: many of the relevant products are not collected for recycling, and if they are, often the products are not separated from other waste streams, like WEEE for example, which can make the later recovery of the critical materials impossible.

• Dispersion: many critical materials are found often in low concentrations, and large volumes of waste may provide only small quantities of material. This hinders the recovery of metals such as tantalum from circuit boards. This is where looking at opportunities in industrial wastes, which may not have been previously considered as sources of critical metals.

• Uncertainty: Implementation of large scale recycling requires significant investment; this is increasingly true for critical materials. Uncertainty about future quantities and qualities of waste streams e.g. the lifetime of products, legislation and the value of materials can discourage the establishment of recycling activities.

• Likelihood of substitution: high prices and in particular absolute shortages can drive substitution (this risk factor was covered in more detail in Part 2).

• Scale: A decision needs to be made as to whether to compete with a large integrated refinery e.g. Umicore or to focus on a niche technology or application. The likes of Umicore benefit from extensive knowledge and expertise and have spread their risk across a range of metals. However certain metals, e.g. rare earths, are not easily recycled by an integrated refinery and niche technologies could prove competitive.

• Stage of value chain: Investments is sorting technology and pre-processing are also attractive, if initially appearing less exciting. For example Airbus/Suez proved the investment merit of this through its innovative aircraft deconstruction pilot project to carefully sort the different metals and alloys with aim of maximising recycling revenue.

And as Mountain Cleantech says, any downturn in prices will of course affect the commercialisation of resource recovery companies because they are semi dependent, at least, on strong prices.

With that, I’ll finish on a quote from Thomas Graedel, a professor of industrial ecology at Yale University, provided to me by Mountain Cleantech: “By failing to recycle metals and simply disposing of these kinds of metal, economies are foregoing important environmental benefits and increasing the possibility of shortages. If we do not have these materials readily available at reasonable prices, a lot of modern technology simply cannot happen.”

Article by Tom Whitehouse. Tom is the Chairman of the London Environmental Investment Forum (LEIF), a conference platform which connects environmental innovation with capital, and the Founder and CEO of LEIF’s Initiating Partner, Carbon International, a fund-raising consultancy for environmental and cleantech industries.

Related posts:

• Critical Metals and Cleantech – Part 1
• Critical Metals and Cleantech – Part 2
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• Report Predicts Shortage of Rare Metals Without Better Recycling
• How China’s Rare Earth Minerals Might Affect Cleantech

In the first part of this blog I looked at the metals currently considered critical among sector analysts, and those that UK consultancy Oakdene Hollins has identified as likely to remain or become critical in the next five to 10 years.

The potential for strong price growth among these metals, at least in the medium term, means technologies and processes that can recover them efficiently from waste streams look like good places to put your money, whether you’re an investor or a corporation operating along a supply chain.

Oakdene raises two key factors however that could significantly impact on demand for these metals and which should be considered by anyone looking to enter the recovery market.  I’ve included below a table from Oakdene’s report which provides some context.

Factor 1: Is the metal highly reliant on a single application?

Such metals can be vulnerable to technological change and substitution, particularly if their prices become expensive relative to alternative materials.

The rare earths Dysprosium and Neodymium are two examples.  Nearly all of the current demand for these metals is for powerful magnets.   With the development and growth of two new markets for these magnets – namely EV motors and wind turbines – demand has skyrocketed and manufacturers having been hunting around for alternatives.  Tesla has developed and commercialized a cost effective, rare earth-free motor and Toyota and others are doing it too.  Siemens and Vestas are thought to be developing turbines which also reduce or remove the need for rare earths.

Graphite’s new growth market in Lithium-ion batteries could also be at risk. Nexeon, a UK start-up, has developed a Li-ion battery which substitutes uniquely structured silicon for graphite as the anode material.   Only 2.6g of silicon are required per battery compared to 10g of graphite, and it significantly increases battery performance by 20 – 30%.

And Ilika, another UK company (which listed on AIM this year), is developing cheaper alternatives to using platinum electrodes for use in fuel cells.

Not all efforts to substitute critical materials have been successful though. Efforts to replace indium in display screen and PV panels showed inferior cost/performance.

Swiss-based VC firm Mountain Cleantech which is raising its second fund, some of which will target the resource recovery sector, says the European Union’s research-funding framework put out a EUR4 million call last year for proposals from groups working to develop novel materials, with the goal to replace rare earths from magnets and other products. But the amount is far too low – the development of new materials will likely take years to develop. The  first goal is to focus on reducing the amount of rare earths, rather than replacing them altogether.   The threat of new materials is not seen as a short-term issue at least.

The other side to this of course is that new applications for these metals take off, and because some have relatively small markets to begin with, both in volume terms (around 1,000 tonnes per year or less) and in value terms (maybe a few hundred million dollars), growth of just a single new application can add significantly to demand. In the case of rare earths we have seen this happen, as I mentioned earlier, when the cleantech industry grew and the magnets containing Dysprosium and Neodymium had new applications in wind turbines and EV motors.

Factor 2: How is the metal produced?

Some of the critical materials identified are produced as by-products of much larger base metals e.g. tellurium from copper, indium from zinc and gallium from aluminium.  Mining for these metals alone, because of their small occurrences, is never economic and they consequently have a negligible impact on the profits of diversified miners who are driven by demand for the base metal. This means that demand for these ‘by-product’ metals can only be met if demand for the base metal rises.  If copper production falls, so too does production of tellurium, furthering the case for ‘urban’ mining (recovering raw materials from waste streams) which would free such metals from the restrictions, and subsequent price volatility, caused by primary mining.

The third and final part of this blog will look at the current state of the critical metals recovery sector, the opportunities and risks, and the companies currently leading and innovating.

Article by Tom Whitehouse. Tom is the Chairman of the London Environmental Investment Forum (LEIF), a conference platform which connects environmental innovation with capital, and the Founder and CEO of LEIF’s Initiating Partner, Carbon International, a fund-raising consultancy for environmental and cleantech industries.

photo: Jake Slagle

Related posts:

• Critical Metals and Cleantech – Part 1
• UN Report: Lackluster Recycling of Metals Hinders Green Tech Sector
• Critical Metals and Cleantech – Part 3
• Report Predicts Shortage of Rare Metals Without Better Recycling
• How China’s Rare Earth Minerals Might Affect Cleantech

58 percent of all cans recycled last year in the U.S., But…

Aluminum can recycling rates in the U.S. peaked at over 65 percent in 1994. At the time, the country was a world leader in the category. Times have changed.

In 2008, when the U.S. aluminum can recycling rate was at 54 percent and heading still downward, an aluminum industry trade group adopted the goal of getting to a 75 percent aluminum can recycling rate by 2015. Since then, can recycling rates have only slowly been nudging upward — 58 percent of all cans sold in the U.S. were recycled last year, the most in a decade — and the U.S. aluminum industry is not only in danger of falling well short of its 2015 goal, if current trends continue, the U.S. may end up plateauing at around 60 percent for some time.

Unlike plastic bottles, aluminum cans may be remade into stock for new cans virtually indefinitely and at much lower costs than using virgin stock. Making aluminum from recycled cans consumes 97 percent less energy than making it from bauxite. Substantially lighter than glass bottles, aluminum cans are increasingly attractive to producers who see the giant potential savings in shipping costs.

Despite obvious advantages, aluminum can recycling in the U.S. and parts of Europe remain surprisingly low, especially as compared to countries like Japan, where aluminum can recycling tops 92 percent, and Brazil, where officials say the goal of recycling all aluminum cans is not far out of reach.

Experts point to a number of factors that explain the variance in aluminum recycling rates the including the falling cost of bauxite, energy prices, access to the recycling system, recycling laws, cultural and societal norms, as well as unique economic conditions in the given country. In Brazil, for example, where aluminum cans emerged well before the country’s big economic growth spurt of the 1990s and beyond, as many as 180,000 people now earn their living by collecting cans daily, forming an informal recycling network that has not developed to the same scale in the U.S. and Europe.

Article by Timothy Hurst, appearing courtesy Earth & Industry.

Related posts:

• Report Predicts Shortage of Rare Metals Without Better Recycling
• Top Ten Cleantech Highlights of Alcoa
• No Recycling for Candy Wrappers – Plastic Diet Day 16
• Green is Good
• UN Report: Lackluster Recycling of Metals Hinders Green Tech Sector