| dc.description.abstract | Abstract
Urban mining has become one of most discussed areas in recent years. As the public’s environmental awareness increases, the role of the recycling industry has become increasingly important. Industrialization has transformed the human group from an agrarian society into an industry one, and as a result, supply and demand for raw materials skyrocketed. Many decades later, the 3C era has manifested very similar results, particularly with rare materials, such as gold, platinum, etc. Generally, 150 grams of gold, 100 kg of copper, and 3 kg of silver can be extracted from 1000 kg of mobile phone circuit boards; this amount of gold is 30 times more than that extracted from traditional mines, and this is the sprouting idea of urban mining, which many in the industry have their hungry eyes at.
All data of this research is obtained from a major precious metal recycling company in Taiwan (Company A). Through interviews, and intensive literature review, this research aims to gain a more thorough understanding of the metal recycling industry and relevant legal issues. Data are collected and analyzed based on the business model provided in Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010).
This research has three primary objectives: (a) overview of the recycling business in Taiwan; (b) identification of Company A’s business model using Osterwalder and Pigneur’s (2010) Business Model Generation; and (c) future envisioning of the metal recycling industry in Taiwan. Some of the major challenges the industry currently faces include: (a) unclear authority designation between waste disposal body and materials recycling body; (b) high set up cost and complicated licensing process; (c) scarce land resources and difficult to iron out conflicts with environmental groups; and (d) technology lag between upstream and downstream suppliers. In view of these issues, and for the betterment of the metal recycling industry, this study suggests: (a) to establish a central smelting body; (b) to establish agreements with environmental groups in South East Asia and China; (c) to fine tune existing laws to narrow the consensus gap between waste disposal body and materials recycling body; and (d) allow import of recyclable waste to enhance Taiwan′s competitiveness in the metal recycling industry.
Keywords: Material recycling, Metal recycling, Business model generation
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