I was wondering how long it will be before it becomes profitable to mine garbage dumps for things like rare earth minerals and copper? Apparently is has already been done in some cases, needs to be done in other cases (old, leaky landfills), and could be done with others.
The concept of landfill mining was introduced as early as 1953 at the Hiriya landfill operated by the Dan Region Authority next to the city of Tel Aviv, Israel.[2] Waste contains many resources with high value, the most notable of which are non-ferrous metals such as aluminium cans and scrap metal. The concentration of aluminium in many landfills is higher than the concentration of aluminum in bauxite from which the metal is derived.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_mining
The concept of landfill mining was introduced as early as 1953 at the Hiriya landfill operated by the Dan Region Authority next to the city of Tel Aviv, Israel.[2] Waste contains many resources with high value, the most notable of which are non-ferrous metals such as aluminium cans and scrap metal. The concentration of aluminium in many landfills is higher than the concentration of aluminum in bauxite from which the metal is derived.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill_mining
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