Andrea Winterstetter reported in her dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Science in Civil Engineering of the Vienna University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering in June, 2016 that anthropogenic resources, which are defined here as “stocks and flows of materials created by humans or caused by human activity, which can be potentially drawn upon when needed”. The overall goal of this thesis is to develop a method for the classification and evaluation of anthropogenic resources, meaning for waste flows and material stocks, in analogy to existing concepts used for geogenic resource deposits. Various recent policy initiatives, promoting the efficient use of resources, indicate an increasing need for a comprehensive picture of totally available and potentially minable raw materials originating from both the lithosphere and the anthroposphere.
Three major topics are tackled in this thesis. The first fundamental question to be answered is, whether the “United Nations Framework Classification for Fossil Energy and Mineral Reserves and Resources 2009“ (UNFC-2009) can in principle be applied to anthropogenic resources. The second topic deals with the general characteristics of anthropogenic resource deposits, which are to be considered for their classification. In this context, not only the
differences of anthropogenic resources compared to geogenic resource deposits are taken into account, but also the differences within the heterogeneous group of anthropogenic resources. The third knowledge area investigates different settings of anthropogenic resource classification, to provide specific methods, indicators and criteria in order to systematically map different types of anthropogenic resource deposits within the three axes / dimensions of UNFC-2009, i.e. “knowledge on composition and extractable material content”, “technical and project feasibility” and “socioeconomic viability”.
Three articles complete this thesis. The first paper presents an initial evaluation procedure for mining obsolete stocks, more specifically for a case study on landfill mining, to facilitate the integration of anthropogenic resources into UNFC-2009. Building on these results, the main goal for the following two articles was to develop a general concept that allows for evaluating and classifying various other types of anthropogenic resources, by going beyond landfill mining. While the first paper answers the basic question, whether the framework is generally suitable for anthropogenic deposits (top-down approach), the focus of the second paper was more on the nature of various anthropogenic resource deposits, to see, how they can be fit into a classification system, that has originally been designed for geogenic resources (bottom-up approach). The third paper brings those two perspectives together. In order to account for the heterogeneity of anthropogenic resources, the newly developed method was applied to case studies for landfill mining (obsolete stocks), recycling of obsolete personal computers (waste flows) and recovering materials from in-use wind turbines (in-use stocks).
The major contribution of this thesis is to lay a foundation for a comprehensive knowledge base of various existing potentially minable anthropogenic resources. The integration of geogenic and anthropogenic resources into UNFC-2009 will facilitate complete and comprehensive assessments of raw material supply. Also, criticality considerations can be extended by including anthropogenic material stocks. In addition, waste management as well
as product designs can be optimized, based on the classification results, to facilitate future resource recovery. This methodology will assist governments, potential investors and waste management companies in the future to classify anthropogenic resource deposits and prioritize potential extraction projects in a systematic and transparent way.
Winterstetter concluded that the applicability of UNFC-2009 to different types of anthropogenic resource recovery projects for the purpose of comparing and prioritizing them, has been proven successfully in this study. To illustrate different settings of anthropogenic resource classification, mining anthropogenic resources from an old landfill (obsolete stock), from obsolete PCs (waste flow) and from wind turbines (in-use stock) was investigated exemplarily, resulting in different evaluation results and therefore in different classifications under UNFC-2009. The factors which are influencing the final classification are similar for different types of anthropogenic resources, but their individual weight differs in the respective case studies.
When treating obsolete PCs in the EU, the focus is on different settings of the legal, institutional, organizational and societal structure, affecting the extractable and potentially usable materials via collection and source separation rates, but also influencing the modifying factors (e.g. labor costs). In the LFM case study the focus was on the timing of mining and on modifying factors, to see how future developments of key drivers (e.g. metal prices) can change the final result and to decide whether there are reasonable prospects for future economic extraction. In case of future potential recycling of permanent magnets contained in wind turbines, currently in use in Austria, the focus was on how the choice of recycling technology could affect the economic results.
Recycling the entire in-use stock of permanent magnets from wind turbines in Austria within one year would yield the best economic results compared to mining obsolete PCs and landfill mining. Although currently not available for mining, it is crucial to know the economic performance of hypothetically mining the in-use stock's resource potential under current conditions as detailed as possible, in order to develop suitable recovery strategies for future waste flows and obsolete stocks. In some cases, information on the recyclability of in-use materials might be useful for manufacturers to improve their product design. Moreover, the information on the economic viability of a hypothetical mining project is of high relevance for decision makers, since expected
positive economic results might make future laws on recycling obsolete.
This method will assist governments, potential investors and waste management companies in the future to classify anthropogenic resource deposits and prioritize potential extraction projects in a systematic and transparent way. We presented an evaluation approach, which can be used to determine coherently the UNFC2009 categories of materials contained in different anthropogenic deposits and under different conditions. Based on the three case
studies, criteria for the classification of anthropogenic resources under UNFC-2009 were developed in order to distinguish between the framework's different categories.
To demonstrate the practicality and robustness of the presented method, it needs to be applied to further types of anthropogenic resources, such as to obsolete buildings, in the future. As some of the criteria cannot or hardly be quantified and thus run the risk of being assessed in a highly subjective manner, the biggest challenge is to require utmost transparency when evaluating and classifying anthropogenic resources. The availability of high quality data on anthropogenic stocks and flows will be crucial for future classification efforts. The ultimate aim is to obtain a comprehensive overview of existing and potentially extractable anthropogenic resource inventories and to create a common platform for evaluating geogenic and anthropogenic resource deposits on an equal footing.
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