In several countries, the subsidies offered for virgin materials extraction make it cheaper to dig up new minerals than to recycle existing, above- ground supplies. Mining companies have fought hard to maintain this status. In the United States, for instance, the industry has staunchly opposed any reforms to the 1872 mining law—and has invested large amounts of money to maintain this support. Between mid-1997 and mid- 2000, U.S. mining interests contributed almost $21 million to political campaigns.

Current materials systems are aligned along the uneven playing field that favours miners and places recyclers at a disadvantage. For instance, most smelters and refineries are not set up to accept secondary sources of material. In Germany, the government introduced aggressive laws in the 1990s to encourage recycling—without first ensuring that materials markets could absorb an avalanche of secondary materials, much of which ended up languishing in warehouses.

Another constraint to recycling is that many modern products are made of a complex set of alloys and materials, which are not easy to separate out and reprocess. But this is hardly insurmountable: products ranging from computers to cars are being designed to be disassembled for repair, reuse, and, ultimately, recycling. Mitsubishi makes a washing machine that can be taken apart using just a screwdriver; Audi makes a 100- percent recyclable car. To aid recycling, some manufacturers now put bar codes on parts to identify the different materials.

Recognizing the value of scrap metals, auto recyclers in the Netherlands recycle about 86 percent by weight of discarded cars. Most cars there are taken apart and reprocessed to reclaim materials in hubcaps, batteries, and other car parts, and this is funded by a $130 disassembly fee that new car buyers pay. Encouraged by the Dutch model, the European Union (EU) has proposed a Scrap Car Directive, which requires manufacturers to take responsibility for cars at the end of their useful lives. Under the proposal, carmakers will have to recycle all recyclable parts of the vehicle, and 85 percent of all materials by weight. The EU proposal also requires manufacturers to discontinue use of heavy metals such as cadmium, mercury, and lead in auto parts because of the health risks they pose during mining, use, and disposal.

In a similar vein, in June 2000, the European Commission passed a Directive on Waste from Electronics and Electronic Equipment, which is slated to become European law in early 2003. The directive calls for electronics manufacturers to stop using heavy metals by 2006, and for producers to take financial and physical responsibility for recycling, including providing a place for households to return discarded equipment free of charge. Still under negotiation are recycling and reuse targets for producers. Currently, 90 percent of the EU's electronic waste—from computers, televisions, stereos—ends up in landfills. Many countries outside Europe, including Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, have introduced or proposed similar laws requiring electronics firms to take back and recycle their products.

Producing materials from secondary sources has significantly smaller impacts than virgin sources would in terms of energy use, toxic emissions, and occupational health hazards—but it does not eliminate them entirely. In a sustainable materials system, repair, reuse, and remanufacture are the methods of first choice. Recognizing this, the Danish government has banned aluminum cans in favour of reusable glass bottles—nearly 100 percent of bottles there are returned and reused.

Secondary materials options are labour-intensive and have the potential to create many more jobs than mining. But this may not be reassuring to skilled mine workers in places with few alternative income sources. If we are to move to an economy based on less virgin materials, mining, a key component will be investment in transition plans to provide safety nets and employment opportunities to workers and communities.  The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) has worked hard to promote "just-transition" plans for workers from sectors such as chemicals, pulp and paper, and mining, noting that "just- transition is an essential part of environmental change." It has recommended that displaced workers be retrained for high- paying, "green" jobs. The CLC has highlighted the need for unions and governments to be prepared for change: to anticipate that environmental imperatives will—or should—determine the viability of certain industries and jobs. Trade union federations elsewhere, such as the AFL-CIO in the United States, and the European Trade Union Congress, have also endorsed similar fair transition plans.

With mining jobs in decline around the world, governments, firms, and unions have a tremendous opportunity to create safer, more meaningful, ecologically sustainable employment for these workers and the families they support. Following the enormous layoffs of the 1990s, the South African Employment Bureau and the National Union of Mine workers there developed transition plans to retrain and employ former mine workers— some whom have found new jobs in steel and paper recycling, for instance. In the United States, recycling and remanufacturing employ more than a million people— many more than its mines, which have about 220,000 workers.

Many towns around the world are looking away from mining and toward more ecologically sustainable industries. Chloride, Arizona, a former silver mining town in the United States for instance, is looking toward to wind energy to reinvigorate its economy. China has 4.3 million mine workers—almost a third of the world's work force in mining— in nearly 400 mining towns. The mines in some 80 percent of these towns have been largely depleted, and about 100 nonferrous metal mines are expected to close down in the next few years. Li Rongrong, the minister in charge of the State Economic and Trade Commission, has urged these moribund mining regions to expand their economies "in line with sustainable development."

Even if we are able to reconfigure our materials economy so that most of our resources come from secondary sources, some mining will likely continue. And there are many immediate opportunities for improving the way mines operate. For instance, it makes sense to do away with some practices that are very damaging and yield so little benefit— such as pouring cyanide over tons of ore to produce a few kilograms of gold that are ultimately used for ornamental purposes. Another practice ripe for change is the dumping of tailings and other mine wastes into rivers and the ocean.