Cited by 101Recycling and Waste Management TechniquesExtraction and Separation ProcessesRecycling and utilization of industrial and municipal waste in materials production

Are scarce metals in cars functionally recycled?

Andersson, Magnus, Ljunggren Söderman, Maria, Sandén, Björn A.·2017·Waste Management

Abstract

Improved recycling of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) may serve as an important strategy to address resource security risks related to increased global demand for scarce metals. However, in-depth knowledge of the magnitude and fate of such metals entering ELV recycling is lacking. This paper quantifies input of 25 scarce metals to Swedish ELV recycling, and estimates the extent to which they are recycled to material streams where their metal properties are utilised, i.e. are functionally recycled. Methodologically, scarce metals are mapped to main types of applications within newly produced Swedish car models and subsequently, material flow analysis of ELV waste streams is used as basis for identifying pathways of these applications and assessing whether contained metals are functionally recycled. Results indicate that, of the scarce metals, only platinum may be functionally recycled in its main application. Cobalt, gold, manganese, molybdenum, palladium, rhodium and silver may be functionally recycled depending on application and pathways taken. For remaining 17 metals, functional recycling is absent. Consequently, despite high overall ELV recycling rates of materials in general, there is considerable risk of losing ELV scarce metals to carrier metals, construction materials, backfilling materials and landfills. Given differences in the application of metals and identified pathways, prospects for increasing functional recycling are discussed.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.wasman.2016.06.031

Cites

43 of 43 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Andersson, M., Ljunggren Söderman, M., & Sandén, B. A.
Affiliations
Chalmers University of Technology (SE)
Corresponding author
Andersson, Magnus
Venue
Waste Management
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-02
Volume
60
Pages
407-416
ISSN
0956-053X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2467637305
Cited by
101
References
43
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 8
FWCI
14.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Waste Management (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Chalmers Publication Library (Chalmers University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
  • Chalmers Research (Chalmers University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Mistra
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Extraction and Separation Processes
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Building and Construction › Recycling and utilization of industrial and municipal waste in materials production
Keywords
end-of-life vehicles, vehicle recycling, metal recovery, platinum, cobalt, gold, palladium, rhodium, silver, molybdenum, manganese, backfill material, landfilling, resource security
MeSH terms
Automobiles, Metals, Sweden, Waste Management, Recycling, Waste Disposal Facilities

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review