Why We Don't Recycle More Aluminum & Rare Earth Elements

Everyone is familiar with “reuse, renew and recycle” or some variation thereof. Be that as it may, we are still constantly manufacturing gadgets that use rare earth elements and other products which require aluminum. Recycling seems to be the best solution to cut down cost and environmental impact. It takes twice the amount of time, energy and money to mine new materials than to recycle the old. However, we aren’t cutting back and have a long way to go before we can become truly sustainable. Is this because the demand is too high and we have an abundant supply? What can be done to conserve the resources we have from a global perspective? 

 

In this segment of The Clean Energy View Radio Show, host, June Stoyer talks to Dr. Subodh Das about the global aluminum industry and rare earth elements. Dr. Das is well recognized and respected expert and consultant to the global aluminum industry specializing in the areas of industry trends, technology, recycling, manufacturing, carbon management and new product & process developments. Dr. Das is the CEO of Phinix, LLC, Fluid Management Systems, Inc. and Underground Recovery, LLC . Dr. Das has over 35 yrs of global aluminum experience in manufacturing and tech areas covering wide disciplines including executive, project, operational, financial and technical management as well as being an accomplished scientist, engineer and inventor. Subodh has served on the boards of The Aluminum Association, Secat  and the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society . The American Society of Metals elected him as ASM Fellow in 2002. The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society also awarded Subodh its prestigious Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Das (with John Green) also received the best paper award from the Journal of Metals for his paper titled “Aluminum Industry and Climate Change-Assessment and Responses “.