In our daily lives, we take many things for granted. Technology is probably the first of them. We take for granted to have a fancy smartphone covering our hand, a slim laptop open on the desk, and a mighty fridge in the kitchen. We also take for granted that the plug of the fridge receives energy day and night, preferably from renewable resources. And clearly, our modem must guarantee a fast, perpetual internet connection.

在我们的日常生活中，我们认为很多事情都是理所当然的。 技术可能是第一个。 我们理所当然的是拥有一部花哨的智能手机遮住了我们的手，一台打开笔记本电脑的细长型笔记本电脑以及一台厨房强大的冰箱。 我们也认为冰箱的插头白天和黑夜都接收能量，最好是来自可再生资源。 显然，我们的调制解调器必须保证快速，永久的互联网连接。

We are so embedded in our technological world that we never question its existence. We rely blindly on technology, but technology relies blindly on something else: the supply of raw materials. All the devices around us are nothing but the end result of our ability to gather, process, and combine together chemical elements.

我们是如此地嵌入我们的技术世界，以至于我们从不质疑它的存在。 我们盲目地依赖技术，但是技术盲目地依赖其他东西：原材料供应。 我们周围的所有设备不过是我们收集，加工和组合化学元素的能力的最终结果。

Often, it is thanks to the properties of rare, unusual chemical elements that the wonders of modern engineering can work and can exist in the first place. It sounds plausible to assume that we try to manage these strategic elements in the most responsible way possible.

通常，得益于稀有，不寻常的化学元素的特性，现代工程的奇迹可以发挥作用并可以首先存在。 假设我们尝试以最负责任的方式管理这些战略要素，这似乎是合理的。

But do we?

但是，我们呢？

The image above is a periodic table, but not the traditional one, which summarizes the atomic properties of all the elements that compose the matter around us. Instead, this periodic table illustrates two other aspects:

上面的图片是一张周期表，而不是传统的一张，它总结了构成我们周围事物的所有元素的原子特性。 相反，此周期表说明了另外两个方面：

1. The abundance of all the elements in the Earth’s crust. More precisely, the dimension of each cell is proportional to the total mass of the corresponding element in logarithmic scale.
   地壳中所有元素的丰度。 更准确地说，每个像元的尺寸与对数标度中相应元素的总质量成比例。
2. How long the supply of each element is expected to last. The risk of supply depletion is indicated by the color-coding, and it was estimated based on our projected extraction rates.
   每个元素的供应预计持续多长时间。 颜色编码表示供应不足的风险，并且是根据我们预计的提取率估算的。

This image opened my eyes to the supply chain of modern technology. It inspired me to think differently about our society, our technology, and our future.

这种形象使我对现代技术的供应链大开眼界。 这激发了我对我们的社会，技术和未来的不同看法。

我们走在不可持续的道路上 (We’re on an unsustainable path)

The elements in green are so abundant or so easily recoverable that their supply will be always granted. Conversely, elements in yellow, orange, and red have accordingly higher and higher criticality: their future supply is at risk.

绿色元素是如此丰富或易于回收，因此总是可以提供它们。 相反，黄色，橙色和红色的元素具有越来越高的临界度 ：它们的未来供应面临风险。

But what does this even mean? In short, it means that we extract a lot, but we don’t reuse enough.

但是，这甚至意味着什么？ 简而言之，这意味着我们提取了很多东西，但是我们没有足够的重用性。

We are constantly hungry for new gadgets, smartphones, laptops, data centers, wires, batteries, electric cars, planes, industrial machines, wind turbines, power plants, and more. The global demand for technology not only requires ever-growing raw material inputs but also generates mountains of waste.

我们一直在渴望新的配件，智能手机，笔记本电脑，数据中心，电线，电池，电动汽车，飞机，工业机器，风力涡轮机，发电厂等。 全球对技术的需求不仅需要不断增长的原材料投入，而且还会产生大量废物。

Often, when a product reaches its end of life, the elements it contains end up burned, dumped in some landfill, or dispersed in the environment. At this point, our chances to recover the precious elements are very low. They are probably lost forever, together with the technological applications they could have been reused for.

通常，当产品达到使用寿命时，其中包含的元素最终会被燃烧，倾倒在某些垃圾填埋场中或分散在环境中。 在这一点上，我们回收珍贵元素的机会非常低。 它们可能会永远丢失，以及它们可能被重新使用的技术应用程序也会丢失。

Therefore, this periodic table is not just a report about how long we can keep mining stuff, rather it is a clear alarm bell warning us that modern civilization is walking an unsustainable path.

因此，这份元素周期表不仅是关于我们可以保留采​​矿物多久的报告，而且是一个清晰的警钟，警告我们现代文明正在走不可持续的道路。

But what are the factors contributing to element scarcity? How can people and businesses adapt themselves and create a resilient future?

但是造成元素稀缺的因素是什么？ 人和企业如何适应自身并创造有弹性的未来？

电子垃圾热潮 (The e-waste boom)

The authors of the “availability table” were provident enough to know that almost no one knows by heart the elements of the periodic table. Let alone what they are used for.

“可用性表”的作者很愿意知道几乎没有人真正知道元素周期表的元素。 更不用说它们的用途了。

They anticipated us with an example we are all familiar with: the smartphone. In the picture, you can see an icon labeling the elements that typically enter in a smartphone (for convenience, the table is shown again below).

他们以我们都熟悉的一个例子来预料我们：智能手机。 在图片中，您可以看到一个图标，上面标有通常在智能手机中输入的元素( 为方便起见，该表再次显示在下面 )。

It is astonishing how many elements enter in a smartphone. For instance,

令人惊讶的是，智能手机中输入了多少元素。 例如 ，

• lithium (Li) and cobalt (Co) are key ingredients for the battery;
  锂(Li)和钴(Co)是电池的关键成分；
• copper (Cu), gold (Au), and silver (Ag) make wiring and micro-electrical components;
  铜(Cu)，金(Au)和银(Ag)构成布线和微电子组件；
• arsenic (As), phosphorus (P), gallium (Ga), and antimony (Sb) are used to tune the conductivity of the silicon (Si) chip;
  砷(As)，磷(P)，镓(Ga)和锑(Sb)用于调整硅(Si)芯片的电导率；
• tantalum (Ta) is used for micro-capacitors;
  钽(Ta)用于微型电容器；
• indium (In) and tin (Sn) are combined to create a transparent conductive coating on the touch screen;
  结合使用铟(In)和锡(Sn)在触摸屏上创建透明的导电涂层；
• yttrium (Y) and lanthanum (La) reinforce the glass of screen and camera;
  钇(Y)和镧(La)增强屏幕和照相机的玻璃；
• neodymium (Nd) is famously known for its usage in magnets.
  钕(Nd)以其在磁铁中的使用而闻名。

These and other elements find analogous applications in computers, tablets, and all the hardware of our digital age.

这些元素和其他元素在计算机，平板电脑和我们数字时代的所有硬件中都有类似的应用程序。

It is worrisome that we’re already running short of so many strategic elements.

令人担忧的是，我们已经缺乏许多战略要素。

First, this trend will push up the price of all electronics. Later, element scarcity could threaten the manufacture of important components.

首先，这种趋势将推高所有电子产品的价格。 后来，元素稀缺可能威胁到重要组件的制造。

Some people believe optimistically that scientists will always develop substitute materials to circumvent the limited supply of any endangered element. However, a much more solid solution is working towards a circular society, where the elements constituting any product can be completely recovered and reused for the next one. Unfortunately, we are still far away from this reality, as exemplified by the phenomenon of e-waste.

有人乐观地认为，科学家将始终开发替代材料来规避有限供应的任何濒危元素。 但是，一种更为坚实的解决方案正在朝着循环社会的方向努力，在循环社会中，构成任何产品的元素都可以完全回收并重新用于下一个产品。 不幸的是，我们离这一现实还很遥远，例如电子垃圾现象就是例证。

The term e-waste is used to indicate all discarded products equipped with a battery or a plug, including home appliances. Even though e-waste represents only a part of the global waste streams, I think it provides many key points to reason about sustainability in general.

电子废物一词用于表示所有废弃的配有电池或插头的产品，包括家用电器。 尽管电子废物仅占全球废物流的一部分，但我认为它为一般意义上的可持续性提供了许多关键点。

A recent report of the United Nations predicts that

联合国最近的一份报告预测，

Global e-waste will reach 74 Mt (million metric tonnes) by 2030, almost a doubling in just 16 years. This makes e-waste the world’s fastest-growing domestic waste stream, fueled mainly by higher consumption rates of electric and electronic equipment, short life cycles, and few options for repair. Only 17.4 per cent of 2019’s e-waste was collected and recycled. This means that gold, silver, copper, platinum and other high-value, recoverable materials conservatively valued at US $57 billion, were mostly dumped or burned rather than being collected for treatment and reuse. — UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2020

到2030年，全球电子废物将达到74吨(百万公吨)，在短短16年内几乎翻了一番。 这使得电子垃圾成为世界上增长最快的生活垃圾，主要是由于更高的电气和电子设备消耗率，较短的生命周期以及很少的维修选择。 2019年电子垃圾中只有17.4％被收集和回收。 这意味着保守地估计价值570亿美元的金，银，铜，铂和其他高价值可回收材料，大部分被倾倒或燃烧，而不是收集起来进行处理和再利用。 — 联合国《 2020年全球电子废物监测》

The material and economic losses are astronomical. Just to make sense of the numbers, 74 Mt corresponds to the weight of about 225 Empire State Buildings, made completely by old laptops, printers and fridges; if e-waste were a country, US $57 billion would place it at the 80th position in the list of countries by GDP.

物质和经济损失是天文数字。 仅仅为了理解数字，74 Mt相当于大约225座帝国大厦的重量，完全由旧的笔记本电脑，打印机和冰箱制成。 如果电子垃圾是一个国家，那么按GDP计算 ，570亿美元将使其排在国家名单的第80位。

Next, the UN’s report warns us that the current recycling fraction is largely insufficient and won’t keep up easily with the 16-years doubling time of e-waste volumes. A part from Europe, which leads with a 42.5% recycling fraction, most of the other countries contribute minimally (e.g. Canada and U.S. stop at 15%) or not at all.

接下来，联合国的报告警告我们，目前的回收率在很大程度上不足，无法与电子垃圾量的16年翻倍时间保持同步。 来自欧洲的一部分(回收率占42.5％)领先，其他大多数国家的贡献最小(例如，加拿大和美国的比率为15％)或根本没有。

Scaling up recycling is a must, but alone it can’t stop the e-waste boom. The core of the problem is that the setup of our economy praises consumption and penalizes the value of reusing. Planned obsolescence offers us many products made-to-break and designed for complete replacement, rather than for an economical fix.

扩大回收是必须的，但仅靠它并不能阻止电子垃圾的繁荣。 问题的核心是，我们的经济体制赞扬了消费，并损害了再利用的价值。 计划中的报废为我们提供了许多易碎产品，旨在完全替换而不是经济修复。

Zooming out of the e-waste example, it is important to remember that element criticality endangers many other crucial sectors of our society. Medical devices, energy production (also renewable!), scientific research and transportation all depend on a large supply of strategic elements.

缩小电子垃圾的示例，重要的是要记住元素的关键性危害着我们社会的许多其他关键领域。 医疗设备，能源生产(也是可再生的！)，科学研究和运输都取决于大量战略要素的供应。

So, before exploring solutions to prevent element criticality, let’s better examine what are all of its causes.

因此，在探索防止元素严重性的解决方案之前，让我们更好地检查其全部原因是什么。

元素危险的其他原因(除了我们的愚蠢和贪婪) (Other causes of element criticality (apart from our stupidity and greed))

The absence of circularity in a constantly growing economy is the main cause of element criticality. However, the supply of a given element can be threatened by additional factors, such as its geological distribution and socio-political matters.

在持续增长的经济中缺乏循环性是元素关键性的主要原因。 但是，给定元素的供应可能受到其他因素的威胁，例如其地质分布和社会政治问题。

地质分布 (Geological distribution)

Elements that appear in a small quantity on our planet are, logically, more susceptible to criticality. However, rare doesn’t necessarily mean “few of.”

从逻辑上讲，在地球上少量出现的元素更容易受到威胁。 但是，稀有并不一定意味着“很少”。

Even if an element is relatively abundant, it might be so finely distributed in the environment that its extraction is close to unfeasible. This is the case of the rare-earth elements.

即使某个元素相对丰富，它在环境中的分布也可能是如此之细，以至于提取几乎是不可行的。 稀土元素就是这种情况。

Rare-earth elements are employed in all sorts of applications — lasers, LEDs, glasses, magnets, batteries, catalysts, ceramics. Despite their name, many rare earths occur in a total amount 100 or 1000 times greater than some precious metals, such as gold (Au) or platinum (Pt). In fact, rare earths’ rarity is a result of their geochemical properties: rare earths like to “bond” and mix with other elements. Consequently, they occur seldom in nature as concentrated, exploitable ore deposits.

稀土元素可用于各种应用场合-激光器，LED，玻璃，磁铁，电池，催化剂，陶瓷。 尽管有它们的名字，但许多稀土元素的总存在量比某些贵金属(例如金(Au)或铂(Pt))大100或1000倍。 实际上，稀土的稀有性是其地球化学性质的结果：稀土元素喜欢“结合”并与其他元素混合。 因此，它们在自然界很少以浓缩，可开采的矿床形式出现。

社会政治问题 (Socio-political issues)

The more an element is rare, the more likely it occurs unevenly on the planet. The more it occurs unevenly, the fewer people control it.

稀有元素越多，它在地球上发生不均匀的可能性就越大。 它发生不均匀的次数越多，控制它的人就越少。

For example, China supplies about 70% of all rare-earth elements. The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces alone more than 60% of cobalt (Co). A single company in Brazil provides about 80% of niobium (Nb). South Africa accounts for 80% of global platinum production.

例如，中国提供了大约70％的稀土元素。 刚果民主共和国仅生产60％以上的钴 (Co)。 巴西的一家公司提供约80％的铌 (Nb)。 南非占全球铂金产量的80％。

Whenever one or few countries control the mineral deposits of some element, global supply can be interrupted suddenly by novel legislations, embargos, local conflicts and other political interests. Thus, the decisions of a few countries can have significant repercussions on the supply— and hence the price — of raw materials.

每当 一个或几个国家控制某些元素的矿藏，新的立法，禁运，局部冲突和其他政治利益可能会突然中断全球供应。 因此，一些国家的决定会对原材料的供应以及价格产生重大影响。

On the one hand, this creates political and economical tensions between countries, which feel incentivized to secure domestic production. As I am writing this post, for instance, Canada announced the construction of a cutting-edge rare-earth processing facility, which will be operational by 2022.

一方面，这在国家之间造成了政治和经济上的紧张关系，人们感到为确保国内生产而受到激励。 例如，在我撰写本文时， 加拿大宣布建设最先进的稀土处理设施 ，该设施将于2022年投入运营。

On the other hand, countries might also have well-justified reasons for shutting down mining sites: mining is an activity that generates devastating environmental impacts and high safety risks for its workers. Especially in poor countries, unregulated working conditions and polluting treatments damage the health of the local population as well as of flora and fauna.

另一方面，各国也可能有充分的理由关闭矿场：采矿是一项对工人造成破坏性环境影响和高安全风险的活动。 特别是在贫穷国家，工作条件的不规范和污染的处理方法损害了当地人口以及动植物的健康。

It is not a coincidence that Elon Musk is having a hard time finding an environment-friendly nickel supplier for his new line of lithium-free car batteries. Similarly, the EU is currently launching a new strategy to diversify its access to critical minerals.

埃隆·马斯克(Elon Musk)很难为其新的无锂汽车电池产品线寻找环保的镍供应商 ，这并非偶然。 同样， 欧盟目前正在启动一项新战略，以使其获取关键矿产的方式多样化。

In summary, the business of raw materials generates injustice at social, technological, and environmental levels. Since mineral deposits are anyway doomed to run out, why don’t we just move immediately to the next step?

总而言之，原材料业务会在社会，技术和环境层面产生不公。 既然矿藏注定要用光了，为什么我们不立即立即进行下一步呢？

元素关键性解决方案 (Solutions to element criticality)

There are countless ideas to prevent element criticality and build a more sustainable future. A wide class of solutions consists of changing how we do and think of business.

有无数的想法可以防止元素的关键性并建立更可持续的未来。 广泛的解决方案包括改变我们的业务方式和思维方式。

Circularity needs to become the norm, not the exception.

循环性需要成为规范，而不是例外。

The impact of any product needs to be considered before, while and after its lifetime. And not only from the economical side.

任何产品在其使用寿命之前，期间和之后都必须考虑其影响。 不仅是从经济方面考虑。

Other possible solutions address the problem at the supply level, employing futuristic alternatives that are already becoming a real thing.

其他可能的解决方案使用已经成为现实的未来派替代方案在供应方面解决该问题。

循环商业模式 (Circular business models)

How does an economy become circular? The transition starts in the blueprints.

经济如何成为循环经济？ 过渡从蓝图开始。

Engineers and designers need to create products aimed to be repaired easily. Spare parts have to be cheap and easy to find. Repair must become the most straightforward option in the mind and in the pockets of the consumers. The act of repair is the essence of sustainability and outdoes recycling in terms of efficiency and energetic cost.

工程师和设计师需要创建易于维修的产品。 备件必须便宜且容易找到。 维修必须成为头脑中和消费者口袋中最直接的选择。 维修工作是可持续性的本质，在效率和能源成本方面胜过回收。

The repair spirit is beautifully summarized by the Repair Manifesto, ideated by the iFixit community. On their website, you can find lots of repair guides, spare parts, and the advice of skilled users, all happy to share their practical knowledge and to support you in fixing almost anything.

iFixit社区提出的“ 维修宣言”很好地概括了维修精神。 在他们的网站上，您可以找到许多维修指南，备件和熟练用户的建议，他们都很乐意分享他们的实践知识并支持您修复几乎所有东西。

I am personally thankful to the Repair Manifesto because it convinced me to repair my old second-hand bike, instead of opting for a new one. Not only this saved me a lot of money, but now my bike has a unique vintage look which I am totally proud of. Repair is the ultimate proof of authentic ownership.

我个人对《维修宣言》表示感谢，因为它说服了我修理我的旧二手自行车，而不是选择一辆新自行车。 这不仅为我节省了很多钱，而且现在我的自行车拥有独特的复古外观，令我引以为傲。 维修是真实拥有权的最终证明。

And what if repair is not possible anymore? Then products should be at least designed to be recycle-friendly, in such a way that different elements can be separated economically and effectively. When products are optimized for repair or recycling, a whole new spectrum of consumer-producer relationships are created.

如果无法再维修怎么办？ 然后，至少应将产品设计为对环境友好的，以便可以经济有效地分离出不同的元素。 当产品经过优化以进行维修或循环再利用时，将创建全新的消费者与生产者之间的关系。

For instance, companies could incentivize customers to send back old or irreversibly broken devices. In the hand of their creators, the location of all components and different elements is well-known. The recovered material could compensate for the shipping costs and reduce manufacturing efforts.

例如，公司可以激励客户退回旧的或不可逆转的设备。 在其创造者的手中，所有组件和不同元素的位置都是众所周知的。 回收的材料可以补偿运输成本并减少制造工作量。

On a more ideological side, circularity can be created simply by redefining the meaning of ownership. For example, why do you need to buy a fridge? Why can’t you just rent it and take care of it? And when it needs some fix, promptly find repair options? Long-term rentals of this type might be beneficial to increasing the lifetime of products and create a new level of partnership between customers and producers.

从意识形态上讲，可以通过重新定义所有权的含义来创建循环性。 例如，为什么需要购买冰箱？ 您为什么不能只租用它并加以照顾？ 当需要修复时，及时找到修复选项？ 此类长期租赁可能有益于延长产品寿命，并在客户和生产者之间建立新的合作伙伴关系。

Circularity transformations are already becoming noticeable also at greater scale. One admirable example is Enel, an Italian multinational energy company, leader in renewables and sustainable investment in 32 countries.

圆度转换也已在更大范围内引起关注。 一个令人赞叹的例子是意大利跨国能源公司Enel，该公司在32个国家的可再生能源和可持续投资领域处于领先地位。

Enel’s commitment to sustainability is impressive, as can be appreciated by its 2020–2022 sustainability plan. A company that invests in environment, biodiversity, and local communities, is also a company that invests in its own long-term resilience.

Enel对可持续性的承诺令人印象深刻，这可以从其2020-2022年可持续性计划中看出。 投资环境，生物多样性和当地社区的公司，也是投资自己的长期弹性的公司。

先进的恢复技术 (Advanced recovery technology)

Have you ever heard about phytomining, bioleaching, or biohydrometallurgy?

您是否听说过植物提取，生物浸出或生物湿法冶金？

These exotic names refer to novel techniques where biological organisms carry out the hard job of recovering metallic elements finely dispersed in a system.

这些外来名称是指新颖的技术，其中生物有机体会进行艰苦的工作，以回收精细分散在系统中的金属元素。

In phytomining, selected metal-accumulating plants recover metals dispersed in the soil through their roots. The metal is later collected by harvesting the biomass and burning it. Importantly, phytomining can heal metal-polluted soils and works also with low metal concentrations, where conventional mining would be uneconomical.

在植物种植中 ，精选的金属积累植物从根中回收散布在土壤中的金属。 随后通过收集生物质并将其燃烧来收集金属。 重要的是，植物开采可以治愈受金属污染的土壤，并且还可以在低金属浓度的情况下工作，而常规开采将是不经济的。

Bioleaching and biohydrometallurgy employ legions of bacteria to recover metals out of e-waste or aqueous solutions. The principle is analogous to phytomining, just with a different organism.

生物浸出和生物湿法 冶金利用大量细菌从电子废物或水溶液中回收金属。 该原理类似于植物采光，只是使用不同的生物。

小行星采矿 (Asteroid mining)

This definitely feels SciFi, but it is not unfeasible. Asteroid mining literally consists of capturing some big rock floating in outer space, mining the hell out of it, and coming back on Earth with pockets full of metal and money. Clearly, all of this would be done in remote with special miner-satellites and superb mission planning.

绝对感觉像是科幻小说，但这并非不可行。 从字面上看，小行星的开采包括捕获一些漂浮在外层空间中的大岩石，从中开采出地狱，然后带着装满金属和金钱的口袋回到地球。 显然，所有这些都将通过特殊的矿用卫星和出色的任务计划在远程完成。

The first step is to choose the right asteroid because they are not all the same. Most of the asteroids are just worthless rocks. One needs to identify a metallic (or “M-type”) asteroid, whose core is made of valuable metals.

第一步是选择正确的小行星，因为它们并不完全相同。 大多数小行星都是毫无价值的岩石。 需要确定一种金属(或“ M型”)小行星 ，其小核是由贵重金属制成的。

The total value of the elements contained in a metallic asteroid could be worth several trillions of dollars. If asteroid mining makes you curious, then you must absolutely watch this YouTube episode of Kurzgesagt.

金属小行星中所含元素的总价值可能价值数万亿美元。 如果小行星采矿使您感到好奇，那么您必须绝对观看YouTube上的Kurzgesagt。

尊重地球的边界 (Respecting Earth’s boundaries)

Asteroid mining could be an impressive achievement for mankind, other than being totally cool. But to be honest, it can’t be considered a sustainable solution. It would be a huge but only temporary material input, and requires an insane technological and economical effort.

除了完全冷静之外，小行星采矿对于人类而言可能是令人印象深刻的成就。 但老实说，它不能被认为是可持续的解决方案。 这将是巨大的但仅是暂时的材料投入，并且需要疯狂的技术和经济努力。

I believe it is more urgent to learn to make treasure of the resources we have on our planet, rather than start dreaming of the solar system. Element criticality is one of the many interconnected challenges that are awaiting us in the upcoming decades, among which biodiversity loss, unbalanced nitrogen cycle, soil degradation and water scarcity.

我认为，更重要的是，学会珍惜我们星球上的资源，而不是开始幻想太阳系。 元素的关键性是未来几十年中我们面临的众多相互关联的挑战之一，其中包括生物多样性丧失， 氮循环失衡 ，土壤退化和水资源短缺。

All these problems have a common solution: we, humans, have to set a limit to ourselves and operate within the boundaries of the planet. In the context of element scarcity, this means aiming at a 100% reuse of the elements already present in all our devices. It means maximizing the durability of any product. Ultimately, it means becoming independent from mineral raw materials.

所有这些问题都有一个共同的解决方案：我们人类必须为自己设定一个极限，并在地球边界内运作。 在元素稀缺的情况下，这意味着要实现100％重复使用我们所有设备中已经存在的元素。 这意味着最大化任何产品的耐用性。 最终，这意味着要摆脱矿物原料的依赖。

The transformative power of circularity is enormous. All companies that shift towards a circular management of their material streams will:

圆度的变革力量是巨大的。 所有转向循环管理其物料流的公司将：

• increase the resilience of their technology in the market
  提高其技术在市场上的弹性
• secure themselves against price fluctuations of raw materials
  确保自己免受原材料价格波动的影响
• invest in innovation and stay competitive
  投资创新并保持竞争力

• reduce their Scope-3 carbon emissions caused by mining

  减少采矿引起的范围3碳排放

• reduce the environmental damage caused by mining
  减少采矿造成的环境破坏
• reduce their waste streams
  减少废物流
• preserve biodiversity
  保护生物多样性
• ease political tension around strategic materials
  缓解围绕战略材料的政治紧张局势
• create a more fair society with fewer miner tycoons and smugglers
  以更少的矿工大亨和走私者创建一个更公平的社会
• say no to child labour taking place in third-world mining sites
  对在第三世界采矿场发生的童工说不
• say no to human-right violations in third-world mining sites
  对第三世界采矿场的人权侵犯说不
• educate people about the value of repair, reuse and recycling
  教育人们关于维修，再利用和回收利用的价值
• educate people about environmental issues
  教育人们有关环境的问题
• save our species.
  拯救我们的物种。

Complete independence from mineral raw materials is clearly a utopia. A utopia that we should urgently try to approach since we are currently living on the opposite, unsustainable extreme.

完全脱离矿物原料显然是乌托邦。 由于我们目前生活在相反的，不可持续的极端情况下，我们应该紧急设法解决一个乌托邦。

Special thanks to my friend Matteo Neri for constructive discussions about this topic.

特别感谢我的朋友Matteo Neri关于此主题的建设性讨论。