Processing of Non-Ferrous Metals Secondary Raw Materials in Poland – Trends, Opportunities and Threats

Abstract

The basic challenges facing modern metallurgy are: shrinking resources of natural resources (ores) and deterioration of their quality, increased demand for metals as still the best and most common construction materials, concentration of mining and metallurgical production in countries with rich deposits leading to monopolization of the market supply, declining production profitability and environmental restrictions on waste emissions. The solution of the problems of metallurgy may be the introduction and intensification of metal economy in a closed circuit (so-called circular economy), requiring the introduction of recycling / processing of secondary metals. The principle of recycling is to maximize the re-use of the metals, taking into account the minimization of outlays for their processing, which protects natural resources, both for their production and used for their subsequent processing. Metal recycling takes place in two areas: during the production of goods (production waste) and the subsequent deposition of waste (post-consumer and post-consumer waste). In order for the recycling system to function properly, there must be cooperation between the state policy (protection of the market of secondary raw materials), producers of products (eco-design), recycling enterprises (collecting and processing) and environmentally friendly habits of the society (education). The article discusses the main problems faced by the domestic market for recycling non-ferrous metals from secondary raw materials.