Measuring the contemporary dissipation rates of metals during use

Dissipative uses of elements have come under increased scrutiny due to eco-toxicological effects of heavy metals in the environment and long-term sustainability of metal supply. Despite that, a comprehensive approach on elemental dissipation has not been proposed yet and very little attention has been paid to the loss of elements by design with any potential of recovery at end-oflife. In this study we categorized the main material streams of elements in use depending on rationales of dissipation and a model has been developed for measuring the contemporary dissipation rates for fifty-five elements. Inherently dissipative uses affect fewer than a dozen of elements (including mercury and arsenic), but the spectrum of elements dissipated increases rapidly if applications from which they are currently unrecoverable are considered. In many cases the dissipation rates are higher than 50%: among others, specialty metals (e.g., thallium, indium, and gallium) and some heavy rare earths are representative of modern technology and their loss gives a measure of how unsustainable is the contemporary use of materials and products. The outcomes provide guidance to industry and academy to identify pathways for reducing material losses and support the research for substitutes and technical developments for increasing elements recovery at end-of-life.