Editing Recycling (section)

== Health and environmental impact ==

=== Health impact ===
{{Expand section|small=no|find=recycling health |date=December 2023}}

==== [[Electronic waste|E-waste]] ====
According to the [[WHO]] (2023), “Every year millions of electrical and electronic devices are discarded ... a threat to the environment and to human health if they are not treated, disposed of, and recycled appropriately. Common items ... include computers ... [[e-waste]] are recycled using environmentally unsound techniques and are likely stored in homes and warehouses, dumped, exported or recycled under inferior conditions. When e-waste is treated using inferior activities, it can release as many as 1000 different chemical substances ... including harmful [[neurotoxin|neurotoxicants]] such as [[lead]].”<ref name="
	World Health Organization (WHO)
 2023 o191">{{cite web | title=Electronic waste (e-waste) | website=
	World Health Organization (WHO)
 | date=18 Oct 2023 | url=https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/electronic-waste-(e-waste) | ref={{sfnref |  	World Health Organization (WHO)  | 2023}} | access-date=11 Dec 2023}}</ref> A paper in the journal ''Sustainable Materials & Technologies'' remarks upon the difficulty of managing e-waste, particularly from home automation products, which, due to their becoming obsolete at a high rate, are putting increasing strain on recycling systems, which have not adapted to meet the recycling needs posed by this type of product.<ref name="jk">Patil T., Rebaioli L., Fassi I., "[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214993722000367 Cyber-physical systems for end-of-life management of printed circuit boards and mechatronics products in home automation: A review]" Sustainable Materials and Technologies, 2022.</ref>

==== Slag recycling ====
Copper slag is obtained when copper and nickel ores are recovered from their source ores using a pyrometallurgical process, and these ores usually contain other elements which include iron, cobalt, silica, and alumina.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Solomon Gabasiane |first1=Tlotlo |last2=Danha |first2=Gwiranai |last3=A. Mamvura |first3=Tirivaviri |last4=Mashifana |first4=Tebogo |last5=Dzinomwa |first5=Godfrey |display-authors=3 |date=2021 |editor-last=Dang |editor-first=Prof. Dr. Jie |editor2-last=Li |editor2-first=Dr. Jichao |editor3-last=Lv |editor3-first=Prof. Dr. Xuewei |editor4-last=Yuan |editor4-first=Prof. Dr. Shuang |editor5-last=Leszczyńska-Sejda |editor5-first=Dr. Katarzyna |title=Environmental and Socioeconomic Impact of Copper Slag—A Review |journal=Crystals |volume=11 |issue=12 |page=1504 |doi=10.3390/cryst11121504 |doi-access=free }}{{Creative Commons text attribution notice|cc=by4|from this source=yes}}</ref> An estimate of 2.2–3 tons of copper slag is generated per ton of copper produced, resulting in around 24.6 tons of slag per year, which is regarded as waste.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Edraki |first1=Mansour |last2=Baumgarti |first2=Thomas |last3=Manlapig |first3=Emmanuel |last4=Bradshaw |first4=Dee |last5=M. Franks |first5=Daniel |last6=J. Moran |first6=Chris |date=December 2014 |title=Designing mine tailings for better environmental, social and economic outcomes: a review of alternative approaches |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652614004429 |journal=Journal of Cleaner Production |volume=84 |pages=411–420 |doi=10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.04.079 |bibcode=2014JCPro..84..411E |via=Elsevier Science Direct|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shen |first1=Huiting |last2=Forssberg |date=2003 |title=An overview of recovery of metals from slags |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956053X02001642 |journal=Waste Management |volume=23 |issue=10 |pages=933–949|doi=10.1016/S0956-053X(02)00164-2 |pmid=14614927 |bibcode=2003WaMan..23..933S |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Environmental impact of slag include copper [[paralysis]], which leads to death due to gastric hemorrhage, if ingested by humans. It may also cause acute dermatitis upon skin exposure.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mahar |first1=Amanullah |last2=Wang |first2=Ping |last3=Ali |first3=Amjad |last4=Kumar Awasthi |first4=Mukesh |last5=Hussain Lahori |first5=Altaf |last6=Wang |first6=Quan |last7=Li |first7=Ronghua |last8=Zhang |first8=Zengqiang |date=April 2016 |title=Challenges and opportunities in the phytoremediation of heavy metals contaminated soils: A review |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0147651315302116 |journal=Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety |volume=126 |pages=111–121 |doi=10.1016/j.ecoenv.2015.12.023 |pmid=26741880 |bibcode=2016EcoES.126..111M |via=Elsevier Science Direct|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Toxicity may also be uptaken by crops through soil, consequently spreading animals and food sources and increasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, cognitive impairment, chronic anemia, and damage to kidneys, bones, nervous system, brain and skin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Khalid |first1=Sana |last2=Shahid |first2=Muhammad |last3=Khan Niazi |first3=Nabeel |last4=Murtaza |first4=Behzad |last5=Bibi |first5=Irshad |last6=Dumat |first6=Camille |date=November 2017 |title=A comparison of technologies for remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0375674216303818 |journal=Journal of Geochemical Exploration |volume=182 |issue=Part B |pages=247–268|doi=10.1016/j.gexplo.2016.11.021 |bibcode=2017JCExp.182..247K }}</ref>

Substituting gravel and grit in quarries has been more cost-effective, due to having its sources with better proximity to consumer markets. Trading between countries and establishment of blast furnaces is helping increase slag utilization, hence reducing wastage and pollution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slag Recycling |url=https://www.recovery-worldwide.com/en/artikel/slag-recycling-3528047.html |website=Recovery Worldwide}}</ref>

<!--==== Concrete recycling ====
{{See also|Concrete recycling}}
{{Empty section|small=no|find=Concrete recycling health |date=December 2023}}-->

=== Environmental impact ===
Economist [[Steven Landsburg]], author of a paper entitled "Why I Am Not an Environmentalist",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Landsburg |first1=Steven E. |chapter=Why I Am Not An Environmentalist |pages=279–290 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qTBgMMxeJ5IC&pg=PA279 |title=The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life |date=2012 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4516-5173-7 |access-date=10 April 2021 |archive-date=20 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230220183208/https://books.google.com/books?id=qTBgMMxeJ5IC&pg=PA279 |url-status=live }}</ref> claimed that [[paper recycling]] actually reduces tree populations. He argues that because paper companies have incentives to replenish their forests, large demands for paper lead to large forests while reduced demand for paper leads to fewer "farmed" forests.<ref name="armchair economist">{{cite book | author = Steven E. Landsburg | date = May 2012 | title = The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life | publisher = Simon and Schuster | page = 98 | isbn = 978-1-4516-5173-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qTBgMMxeJ5IC | access-date = 10 April 2021 | archive-date = 20 February 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230220183215/https://books.google.com/books?id=qTBgMMxeJ5IC | url-status = live }}</ref>
[[File:Agbogbloshie Ghana.jpg|thumb|A metal [[scrap]] worker is pictured burning insulated copper wires for copper recovery at [[Agbogbloshie]], Ghana.]]
When foresting companies cut down trees, more are planted in their place; however, such farmed forests are inferior to natural forests in several ways. Farmed forests are not able to fix the soil as quickly as natural forests. This can cause widespread [[soil erosion]] and often requiring large amounts of [[fertilizer]] to maintain the soil, while containing little tree and wild-life [[biodiversity]] compared to virgin forests.<ref name="baird">Baird, Colin (2004). ''Environmental Chemistry'' (3rd ed.). W. H. Freeman. {{ISBN|0-7167-4877-0}}.{{page needed|date=April 2021}}</ref> Also, the new trees planted are not as big as the trees that were cut down, and the argument that there would be "more trees" is not compelling to forestry advocates when they are counting saplings.

In particular, wood from tropical rainforests is rarely harvested for paper because of their heterogeneity.<ref>{{Cite journal |url = http://www.fao.org/docrep/f7795e/f7795e02.htm |title = How to make paper in the tropics |last = de Jesus |first = Simeon |date = 1975 |journal = Unasylva |issue = 3 |volume = 27 |access-date = 31 July 2015 |archive-date = 1 October 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181001142546/http://www.fao.org/docrep/f7795e/f7795e02.htm |url-status = live }}</ref> According to the [[United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change]] secretariat, the overwhelming direct cause of deforestation is [[subsistence farming]] (48% of deforestation) and [[commercial agriculture]] (32%), which is linked to food, not paper production.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdf/application/pdf/pub_07_financial_flows.pdf |author = UNFCCC |title = Investment and financial flows to address climate change |website = unfccc.int |publisher = UNFCCC |page = 81 |year = 2007 |access-date = 7 July 2016 |archive-date = 10 May 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080510090003/http://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdf/application/pdf/pub_07_financial_flows.pdf |url-status = live }}</ref>

Other non-conventional methods of material recycling, like Waste-to-Energy (WTE) systems, have garnered increased attention in the recent past due to the polarizing nature of their emissions. While viewed as a sustainable method of capturing energy from material waste feedstocks by many, others have cited numerous explanations for why the technology has not been scaled globally.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Towie |first1=Narelle |title=Burning issue: are waste-to-energy plants a good idea? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/28/burning-issue-are-waste-to-energy-plants-a-good-idea |work=The Guardian |date=28 February 2019 |access-date=23 December 2019 |archive-date=4 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200204200051/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/28/burning-issue-are-waste-to-energy-plants-a-good-idea |url-status=live }}</ref>