Waste Management and Critical Raw Materials (edX)

A good number of the materials found in everydayproducts are now referred to as "critical". This means that there is a risk of failure in their supplyand that they are also critical in terms of economic importance.

Many metals, for instance, are already critical or could become critical in the near future due to their limited availability and the growing demand for products worldwide. Think of the newest electronic products that contain critical metals such as gallium, which is used in integrated circuits; beryllium, used in electronic and telecommunications equipment and permanent magnets and germanium found in infra-red optics.

Innovative product design and reusing, recycling and remanufacturing products can help to deal with a raw materials shortage. But this can only provide an integrated solution if we keep CRMs in the loop through smarter CRM management. The starting point is to identify CRMs in products. It is not always clear what materials are in which products. It is, therefore, necessary to keep all metals in the loop for as long as possible.

Scarcity in the supply chain can not only damage businesses but alsonegatively impact economic development and the environment. For this reason, the course will also discuss environmental issues and electric and electronic waste regulations.

This course will be of value to a wide range of professionals working in or interested in this field. These include professionals involved in producing products containing CRMs (such as electronics) as well as local or national government officials tasked with organizingwaste management and recycling for these products. Students interested in the field of waste management will also find this course helpful for their studies in electronics, industrial design, and industrial ecology.

This course is part of the Sustainable Resource Management Professional Certificate.

What you'll learn

- Current challenges and opportunities in resource resilience

- Environmental problems caused by waste mismanagement of products that contain CRMs

- Waste collection methods and efficient collection of waste in households and at companies

- Remanufacturing, refurbishment, re-use and recycling processes of products which contain CRMs

- Waste prevention through chain optimization

- Benefits of circular procurement to keep critical raw materials in the loop through smart waste management

- How product design can support efficient recycling and remanufacturing

- How to uncover new business models to reduce waste and to make your business more resource resilient

Syllabus

Week 1: Urgency and challenges with critical raw materials (CRMs) and waste. How can we find out what CRMs are in products, and how can we get them back? The effects of materials shortage, future development and geo-politics on raw materials. Current waste management of products containing CRMs in general, waste management of commercial and household waste, regulation of electric and electronic waste (WEEE). Environmental problems such as leaching heavy metals from incinerator ashes and landfills. Partial metals retrieval from incinerator ashes.

Week 2: Different collection systems for recycling and remanufacturing/refurbishment, recycling psychology and the separate waste collection of commercial and household waste.

Week 3: Recycling technology: pre-processing, metallurgy and its challenges. Recycling economics and the problem of <1% (most) CRMs recycling.

Week 4: Remanufacturing and refurbishment systems: return of product (reverse logistics), disassembly and repair of the product, market demand and economics.

Week 5: Product design using better recycling or remanufacturing and refurbishment. Substitution of materials.

Week 6: New business models to generate profits from products that last longer. Circular procurement for government and companies.