Ways of reducing the use of resources

• Life-cycle assessment (LCA)

  analysis of the impact of manufactured product on the environment
• Stages of life-cycle assessment

  ->extracting and processing raw materials needed

  ->manufacturing the product & its packaging

  ->using the product during its lifetime

  ->disposing of the product at the end of its useful life
• Raw material

  from the Earth’s crust, ocean or the atmosphere
• Environmental impact due to raw materials

  ->using up scarce finite resources (ores, crude oil)

  ->damaging habitats (quarrying, mining)
• Environmental impact of manufacturing

  ->using up land for factories

  ->use of machines and people
• Environmental impact due to the disposal of product

  ->using up landfill sites

  ->recycle / reusable
• Advantages of recycling

  ->conserves energy and scarce finite resources

  ->fewer quarries

  ->less extraction of crude oil

  ->reduced waste in landfill sites
• Disadvantages of recycling

  ->difficult to separate metals from one another

  ->transportation is needed

  ->need organisation, workers, vehicles and fuels
• Process of phytomining

  ->plants are grown on a low-grade ore

  ->plants absorb metal ions through their roots

  ->metal ions are concentrated in the plant cells

  ->plants are harvested and burnt

  ->ash contains metal compounds
• Advantages of phytomining

  ->reduces the need to obtain new ore by mining

  ->conserves scarce high-grade ores

  ->reduces the amount of rock waste (no mining)
• Bioleaching

  ->using bacteria to break down low-grade ores

  ->produce leachate

  ->does not need high temperatures

  ->produce toxic substances (sulfuric acid)
• Leachate

  an acidic solution containing copper ions
• Key points of life-cycle assessment

  energy

  transport

  pollution (waste substance)