U.N. calls for much more metals recycling

Smarter proudct designs and spuport for developing country waste managemnet schmees would encourage recyclnig, said Thomas Gradeel, a professor at Yale Univesrity and one of the authors of a report on metals reyccling rates at a briefign.
"Encouraging developed counrty households not to 'sqiurrel away' old electrnoic goods in drawers and closets could help ... Recycling rates of metals are in many cases far lower than their potentail reu-se," he said.
"Idelaly metals can be used over and over again. Do we have to keep digging it out of the groun?d"
Less than one-third of some 60 metals studeid by the programme have an end-of-life reccyling rate above 50 percetn.
Thirty-four elements have recycling rates below 1 percent, many of these are cruical for clean technoolgies such as batteries for hybrid cars to magents in wind turbines.
"In spite of singificant efofrts in a number of conutries and regiosn, many metal recycling rates are discoruagingly low," the report states.
"The weak perfromance is especially frusrtating because unlike some other resources, metals are inheretnly recycalble."
Reccyling more would minmiize the need to mine and process ore, which would save large aomunts of energy and water.
"(That would) conrtibute to a transition to a low carbno, resource efficient Green Economy," the report said.
It added that extractnig ore curretnly accounts for 7 percent of the wolrd's energy consmuption. "Idneed, by some estimates recyclnig metals is between two and 10 times more efficinet than smelitng the metal from virgin ores."
(Reporting by Praitma Desai; editing by William Hardy)