For purposes of environmental modelling, decision-making, and policy discussions involving recycling of metals, the metals industry strongly supports the end-of-life recycling approach over the recycled content approach. The weakness of the recycled content approach arises from the fact that a simple account of the history of a material provides no assessment of actual environmental performance. The recycled content metric does little to guide decision makers wishing to better manage metals and metal containing products.

Moreover, and of particular concern, pursuit of recycled content may generate market distortions and result in environmental and economic inefficiencies. The end-of-life recycling approach encourages manufacturers, policy-makers and other decision-makers to evaluate real performance and improve the design and management of products, including their disposal and recycling. This forward-looking perspective supports sustainable development by supporting solutions where high amounts of metal are made available for the future by recycling.

Download the full declaration by the Metals Industry on Recycling Principles (PDF - 51 kb)