| Palladium | Gas | Gold | Oil | Lithium | Copper | Manganèse | Oil | Iron |
| Silver | Oil | Gas | Rare-earth elements | Water | Cadmium | Lithium | Iron | Oil |
| Gas |
|
|
Gold |
| Nickel | Gas | Rare-earth elements | Oil | Gold | Lithium | Indium | Rare-earth elements | Tungsten |
| Iron | Oil | Rare-earth elements | Silver | Oil | Gas | Lithium | Iron | Oil |
They are used to making all of the products we use |
Yet our appetite is growing |
| We produce 4 billion metric tons of waste every year |
and we only recycle one billion of it. |
If properly recycled, this waste can be a valuable resource |
It can provide a new source of energy and materials |
The circular economy: a new industrial revolution is underway
In a conventional economy, everything is linear, from cradle to grave: extraction, production and disposal.
In the circular economy, consumption patterns are designed to mirror the cyclical approach of natural ecosystems.
Once used, all goods provide by-products that can be reused in other manufacturing processes, creating a virtuous cycle more in tune with the environment.
Veolia recycles televisions and cell phones in Angers, France
Instead of being tossed in the garbage, these consumer goods are disassembled and used to provide new resources, such as high-quality polymers (plastics) suitable for use as secondary raw materials to create new products, like these bathroom scales made by a leading French manufacturer of household appliances.
Rostock recycles 1 billion plastic bottles every year
Every year, 200 billion plastic bottles are made worldwide for juice, soda, household cleaning products and a whole range of other uses. Veolia’s treatment and recycling facility in port of Rostock, northern Germany, recycles 1 billion plastic bottles a year.
That is the equivalent of saving 31,000 liters of crude oil.
In Pécs, Hungary, we heat an entire city with biomass
