Sustainability Strategies in Field Trial

Gleich, Arnim von; Gottschick, Manuel; Jepsen, Dirk; Sanders, Kelly T.

doi:10.1007/1-4020-4539-5_9

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The first subcase for this material quality perspective is the accumulation of tramp elements, impurities, or contaminations because of downcycling. This perspective is taken by Brooks and Gaustad (2021) and Valero (2015), von Gleich et al (2004), Worrell et al (2016), andZhang et al (2020). According to Baxter et al (2017), the mere possibility of contamination, without proof, can cause downcycling.…”

Section: Reduction Of Materials Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A terminology for downcycling

Helbig

Huether

Joachimsthaler

et al. 2022

J of Industrial Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The term downcycling is often used anecdotally to describe imperfections in recycling. However, it is rarely defined. Here, we identify six meanings of the term downcycling as used in scientific articles and reports. These encompass the material quality of reprocessed materials, target applications, product value, alloying element losses, material systems, and additional primary production. In a proposal for harmonized and more specific terminology, we define downcycling as the phenomenon of quality reduction of materials reprocessed from waste relative to their original quality. We further identify that the reduced quality can express itself thermodynamically, functionally, and economically, covering all perspectives on downcycling. Dilution, contamination, reduced demand for recycled materials, and design-related issues can cause those downcycling effects. We anticipate that this more precise terminology can help quantify downcycling, keep materials in the loop longer, use materials more often and at higher quality, and therefore assist in reducing material-related environmental impacts.

show abstract