
Landfills – a future source of raw materials - jwilk
https://lnu.se/en/meet-linnaeus-university/current/news/2018/landfills--a-future-source-of-raw-materials/
======
kragen
Landfills are the main source of most raw materials in the near future —
perhaps 16–64 years out. Here on Earth, with the exceptions of tiny amounts in
experimental nuclear reactors, we really only _consume_ helium and free
energy. Everything else, well, we just convert it from one form to another.
Some of it, like phosphate lost to agricultural runoff, is converted to a much
more dilute form, and therefore one much more difficult to recover. But almost
any landfill has a higher concentration of valuable elements than the original
ore from which those elements were mined.

Garbage mining, of course, is nothing new — there are tens of thousands of
_cartoneros_ both here in Argentina and in Brazil, the figure of the "rag and
bone man" goes back generations, and automotive junkyards are nothing more
than open-air landfills to "mine" for specialized parts. But improvements in
robotics and AI will make economic the recovery of valuable materials from
increasingly dilute waste streams, as well as those that are too hazardous for
human mining.

Once we have von Neumann probes, it seems likely that we will do some asteroid
mining. I don't know what effect that will have on the markets for raw
materials, except that it will almost certainly make the platinum group
cheaper.

~~~
zitterbewegung
In other countries your definition of hazardous is an acceptable risk. My
mother tells me stories of people rooting through garbage in the Philippines.
I also went to my local freegeek (and won't go back again because I can't
tolerate the low quality air). Also, in Ghana a bunch of electronics gets
processed by people (and they are quite toxic) from our consumer electronics.
From this article it seems like they were able to salvage computers (at a
considerable risk) See [https://medium.com/@felipearaujo22/i-was-looking-for-
africas...](https://medium.com/@felipearaujo22/i-was-looking-for-africas-
biggest-electronics-dump-but-found-a-community-of-creators-
instead-654027ce5c5b)

I don't know why people throw away their consumer electronics. I got an
Original iPhone for $5 and sold it back to AT&T for $100 trade in credit (this
was in 2012). I also used the phone on their 2G network for six months and
connected to local WiFi.

~~~
kragen
There are different levels of hazard. Reprocessing electronics is not as bad
as finding electronics amongst used hypodermics and discarded rat poison.

What do you think AT&T did with the Original iPhone?

~~~
zitterbewegung
I have no idea. The purpose of the offer was to get rid of 2G cell phones of
their network.

------
dawnerd
This is already happening and has been for a while. Not entirely sure why this
is somehow a new thought, people have been proposing it for a long time, just
few companies want to get their hands dirty.

[https://www.triplepundit.com/2011/09/belgian-company-
leads-l...](https://www.triplepundit.com/2011/09/belgian-company-leads-
landfill-mining/)

~~~
icebraining
In fact, the International Symposium on Enhanced Landfill Mining is already in
its fourth edition.

[http://elfm.eu/](http://elfm.eu/)

[https://www.eurelco.org/](https://www.eurelco.org/)

~~~
chillingeffect
University marketing to an unaware public.

The dissertation [1] is a collection of four papers on the focused topic of
heavy metal values and safety in recovery.

At least now we'll maybe have less bragging about not putting materials into
landfills! [2]

[1] [http://lnu.diva-
portal.org/smash/record.jsf?aq2=%5B%5B%5D%5D...](http://lnu.diva-
portal.org/smash/record.jsf?aq2=%5B%5B%5D%5D&c=6&af=%5B%5D&searchType=SIMPLE&sortOrder2=title_sort_asc&query=yahya+jani&language=en&pid=diva2%3A1174786&aq=%5B%5B%5D%5D&sf=all&aqe=%5B%5D&sortOrder=author_sort_asc&onlyFullText=false&noOfRows=50&dswid=2506)

[2] [https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sweden-s-
recycling...](https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sweden-s-recycling-is-
so-revolutionary-the-country-has-run-out-of-rubbish-a7462976.html)

------
Tossrock
"Before its acquisition he had been the cofounder and technical director of a
small company called Dumpmines, which was in the business of digging up and
processing old landfills, recovering the valuable materials that had been
thrown away in a more wasteful age. It had been a surprise when Praxis had
acquired them, a very pleasant surprise, as everyone in Dumpmines went from
employment in a small firm to apprentice membership in one of the richest
organizations in the world - paid in its shares, voting on its policy, free to
use all its resources. It was like being knighted." \- Kim Stanley Robinson,
Green Mars, 1993.

------
alkonaut
It's interesting that the article comes out of Sweden, who's pretty good at
_not_ throwing stuff in landfills. After recycling materials and energy less
than 1% of the material ends up in landfills here. The environemntal benefits
of incineration (which isn't "recycling") are disputed of course, but at least
it reduces need for other sources of energy, and obviously means we don't just
aggregate trash like a landfill does.

------
chrisseaton
Reminds me of the recent article about people sourcing _food_ from landfill.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-42990661/how-meat-
is...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-42990661/how-meat-is-recycled-
and-sold-to-the-poor)

~~~
flor1s
So much food is thrown away by grocery stores on the expiration date or just
the day after. Usually you can eat that for a few more days, but grocery
stores do not want to take the risk of selling it.

~~~
ekianjo
They cant even take the risk because you know, its illegal.

~~~
latch
Source?

Only a tiny subset of food is legally required to have an expiration date. In
the UK this is the "use by" date. In Canada it's the "expiration date." But,
you'll find this, or "best by" dates on way more products, because they want
to move more product.

In the US, for example, only infant formula is _required_ by federal law to
have an expiration date (1). The same page states that: "Foods not exhibiting
signs of spoilage should be wholesome and may be sold, purchased, donated and
consumed beyond the labeled "Best if Used By" date."

(1) [https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-
safety...](https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-
education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/food-labeling/food-product-
dating/food-product-dating/)

~~~
IAmEveryone
In the UK, and the rest of the EU, there are only two packaged goods that do
not need an expiration date: water, and table salt without iodine. The other
exception is fresh fruits and vegetables.

The legality and morality of donating food past its expiration date is
somewhat murky and different depending on jurisdiction. I know France passed a
law specifically allowing the practice, and its at least tolerated in Germany.

------
rm_-rf_slash
If anybody is interested in the lives of the people who scour landfills for
recyclable/resaleable materual, there was a Brazilian documentary about such
folks in Rio - Waste Land. It was very moving.

[https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1268204/](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1268204/)

~~~
jwilk
Non-mobile link:

[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1268204/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1268204/)

------
stretchwithme
Robots will eventually become as small and as cheap as insects, so it stands
to reason that many heretofore expensive activities will become cheap. And
there's probably enough energy sitting in the landfill to power resource
recovery too.

Is this feasible now? I have no idea. But it is inevitable.

~~~
mattmanser
The 2nd book in Becky Chamber's Wayfarer series touches on this, they didn't
bother using robots, they just use small children bred for the purpose[1].

[https://www.goodreads.com/series/170872-wayfarers](https://www.goodreads.com/series/170872-wayfarers)

[1] Although this is obviously dark, the series is generally feel good sci-fi,
enjoyable and worth checking out.

------
jacquesm
Todays landfills will be tomorrows mines. I've been saying that for many
years. One of the first things we will probably recover from them is copper.

~~~
extrapickles
In some locations they recover metals from garbage before it enters the
landfill.

Methane is also captured and converted into electricity, though it’s more to
keep the landfill from exploding and for greenhouse gas reduction.

------
ape4
I suppose its a matter of economics. Eventually raw materials will be too
expensive to mine so we'll have to get them from landfills.

------
sixdimensional
How about a YC startup around this? I'm probably not qualified to work on this
problem but have been thinking about it a lot. "One man's trash is another
man's treasure"?

I would think the waste management companies have this on lockdown but maybe
I'm mistaken.

Certainly seems worth doing and there seem to be profits possible in it (not
to mention possible social and environmental benefits).

~~~
IAmEveryone
It's definitely a big market, but I wouldn't underestimate existing efforts in
the space.

China just recently banned the import of bulk plastic, which has had
repercussions far and wide, especially in the EU. There are automatic sorting
machines, including many by startups. But the problem is quite hard.

Ultimately product packaging may need to change, too. Currently, a bag for
coffee may contain ten layers of different plastics, metals, and papers, all
fused together.

------
chasedehan
When I read that the experiments were in Småland, my mind went immediately to
Ikea (which is what they call their childcare area).

------
kozikow
Potentially interesting sidenote: Automatic landfill detection is possible
from satellites - I was exploring a potential project working on this problem
some time ago, but ultimately decided to not do it.

------
fouc
I think it would be a very cool automation problem to solve. Whether it's
fresh garbage or landfills, it all could be separated into recycled materials
or base components.

------
api
I've predicted "remining" for a long time, especially for rare materials.

