3 ms·

Not lost, just sitting in a landfill somewhere probably, waiting to be mined again.

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
Future prospector searching for veins of iPads. There's gold in them hills
mateo1 4y ago
A percentage is also lost in a way that is not and will never be economically feasible to recover, ie oxidized and dissolved in the sea. Although this research is probably done in good faith, it's going to (renewably) fuel all the alarmist environmentalists that don't understand the first thing about mining and resources. We cannot live in a closed system, nothing can, and we will perish if we go around stopping all industrial progress in the name of an unachievable circular economy ideal. Some resources are scarce and limited as far as we know and with current extraction costa, but the solution is not to stop using them. We use them for a reason. Imagine if the industrial revolution never happened because they were concerned that in 200 years the sea level would rise 3 meters and damage their crops. In a way, this is where we are. There is a lot of earth crust and a lot of minerals around. Luckily, by the time we run out we'll have already colonized most of the solar system.
- Thorentis 4y ago
  > Luckily, by the time we run out we'll have already colonized most of the solar system. I tend to agree with the first part, but am reluctant to fully agree due to this last part. If it was true that we have enough to last us up until we colonize the solar system, then maybe the first part would be fine. This assumes that colonising the solar system is even possible, and that we have enough energy available on earth to even do this.
  - bruce511 4y ago
    I'm doubtful about colonising - and even if we create colonies it's likely they will remain small and dependant on earth for at least some supplies. However there is a Lot of rock in the solar system that could be mined, and its possible, perhaps even probable, that these resources would supply earth with metals for quite some time.
    - shkkmo 4y ago
      I have no doubt that supply chains will remain interlinked, but if our civilization begins to actively exploit a significant portion of the resources in the solar system, then large-scale colonization is necessary and inevitable (although not necessarily human.)
  - eru 4y ago
    > This assumes that colonising the solar system is even possible, and that we have enough energy available on earth to even do this. The sun will provide plenty of energy for quite a while to come.
SnowHill9902 4y ago
Mercury is released to the environment in the chloralkali process.
Mindless2112 4y ago
I suspect anyone who thinks landfills will ever be mined in the future has never been to a landfill. If you want to recover metals from garbage, it's much easier if you burn it rather than bury it.
- jessaustin 4y ago
  Landfills are made of garbage and soil. If we had suitable tools, that would take far less energy to sort through than ore. The future waits only on better tools.
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  It gets much more efficient if you do a few basic things. Like separating food and garden waste into its own stream. Avoiding wasteful practices to reduce volume. Setting up closed loop manufacturing for commonly used items like milk containers. With regard to metals, probably the biggest impact that won't happen on its own without consumer and regulatory pressure is to get the manufacturers to take back electronic devices and reclaim the metals that they use. At that point there's various chemical methods to extract/separate metals from the plastic. Burning is possibly an option for the final remaining hard to disentangle parts but a few simple up front decisions can make items easy to disassemble for re-use in a standard 80/20 split. One neat trick is to recycle batteries that are a mix of elements, but not bother to separate the elements, then sell the mix to someone who needs roughly that mix of elements anyway, like battery manufacturers. Saves time/effort and energy. Small additions can rebalance it. I take the graph as being related to what percentage of the final item is that metal. If you make something that's 99% iron then recycling can happen more easily without up front planning than .01% gold mixed in with all sorts of other stuff.

Future prospector searching for veins of iPads. There's gold in them hills

A percentage is also lost in a way that is not and will never be economically feasible to recover, ie oxidized and dissolved in the sea. Although this research is probably done in good faith, it's going to (renewably) fuel all the alarmist environmentalists that don't understand the first thing about mining and resources. We cannot live in a closed system, nothing can, and we will perish if we go around stopping all industrial progress in the name of an unachievable circular economy ideal. Some resources are scarce and limited as far as we know and with current extraction costa, but the solution is not to stop using them. We use them for a reason. Imagine if the industrial revolution never happened because they were concerned that in 200 years the sea level would rise 3 meters and damage their crops. In a way, this is where we are. There is a lot of earth crust and a lot of minerals around. Luckily, by the time we run out we'll have already colonized most of the solar system.

Thorentis 4y ago
> Luckily, by the time we run out we'll have already colonized most of the solar system. I tend to agree with the first part, but am reluctant to fully agree due to this last part. If it was true that we have enough to last us up until we colonize the solar system, then maybe the first part would be fine. This assumes that colonising the solar system is even possible, and that we have enough energy available on earth to even do this.
- bruce511 4y ago
  I'm doubtful about colonising - and even if we create colonies it's likely they will remain small and dependant on earth for at least some supplies. However there is a Lot of rock in the solar system that could be mined, and its possible, perhaps even probable, that these resources would supply earth with metals for quite some time.
  - shkkmo 4y ago
    I have no doubt that supply chains will remain interlinked, but if our civilization begins to actively exploit a significant portion of the resources in the solar system, then large-scale colonization is necessary and inevitable (although not necessarily human.)
- eru 4y ago
  > This assumes that colonising the solar system is even possible, and that we have enough energy available on earth to even do this. The sun will provide plenty of energy for quite a while to come.

SnowHill9902 4y ago

Mercury is released to the environment in the chloralkali process.

Mindless2112 4y ago

I suspect anyone who thinks landfills will ever be mined in the future has never been to a landfill. If you want to recover metals from garbage, it's much easier if you burn it rather than bury it.

jessaustin 4y ago
Landfills are made of garbage and soil. If we had suitable tools, that would take far less energy to sort through than ore. The future waits only on better tools.
ZeroGravitas 4y ago
It gets much more efficient if you do a few basic things. Like separating food and garden waste into its own stream. Avoiding wasteful practices to reduce volume. Setting up closed loop manufacturing for commonly used items like milk containers. With regard to metals, probably the biggest impact that won't happen on its own without consumer and regulatory pressure is to get the manufacturers to take back electronic devices and reclaim the metals that they use. At that point there's various chemical methods to extract/separate metals from the plastic. Burning is possibly an option for the final remaining hard to disentangle parts but a few simple up front decisions can make items easy to disassemble for re-use in a standard 80/20 split. One neat trick is to recycle batteries that are a mix of elements, but not bother to separate the elements, then sell the mix to someone who needs roughly that mix of elements anyway, like battery manufacturers. Saves time/effort and energy. Small additions can rebalance it. I take the graph as being related to what percentage of the final item is that metal. If you make something that's 99% iron then recycling can happen more easily without up front planning than .01% gold mixed in with all sorts of other stuff.