Zisopoulos, Filippos K;
Fath, Brian D;
Toboso-Chavero, Susana;
Huang, Hao;
Schraven, Daan;
Steuer, Benjamin;
Stefanakis, Alexandros;
... de Jong, Martin; + view all
(2025)
Inequities blocking the path to circular economies: A bio-inspired network-based approach for assessing the sustainability of the global trade of waste metals.
Resources, Conservation and Recycling
, 212
, Article 107958. 10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107958.
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Abstract
Considering the importance of waste metals for the transition to circular economies, this study follows a bio-inspired approach to evaluate their material and monetary global trade patterns for sustainability and equity. Between 2000 and 2022, the global trade grew by 5 % in trading countries, by 37 % in trade links, by 71 % in material flows, and by 569 % in economic flows. Driven by indirect effects, the average circulation of material and monetary flows ranged between 21.8–34.9 % depending on the demand or supply perspective but showed a declining trend. Due to homogenization, high network redundancy, and low network efficiency the trade remained robust yet outside the "window of vitality" characterizing natural ecosystems. A few, mostly high-income countries dominated the market, consolidating imports of high-value metal waste mostly from low- and middle-income exporters. Policies should address circularity and trade inequities, accounting for environmental and social ramifications throughout the lifecycle of products and materials.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Inequities blocking the path to circular economies: A bio-inspired network-based approach for assessing the sustainability of the global trade of waste metals |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107958 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107958 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). |
| Keywords: | Resilience, Resource-use efficiency, Ecological network analysis, Ascendency analysis, Bio-inspired design, Waste trade |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204989 |
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