Towards product-oriented sustainability in the (primary) metal supply sector

Consideration of sustainable supply of (primary) metals is increasingly influencing the policy agenda of western societies. Environmental sustainability can be managed from different perspectives, including a site-oriented one (strongly used by the mining sector) and a product-oriented one (as with life cycle assessment). The objectives of this article are to analyse and discuss the differences in these perspectives; to discuss potential benefits to the metal/mining sector of also considering the product-oriented perspective; and to propose ways for a smooth implementation. We made use of literature and expert knowledge, on top of interviews with different stakeholders, to identify why and how these perspectives are (not) used in the metal/mining sector. Moreover, we identified three key concerns related to the implementation of a product-oriented perspective in the sector (e.g., use of unrepresentative life cycle inventory (LCI) datasets for metal-based products) and proposed three corrective actions for all of them (e.g., increase the quantity and quality of LCI). Finally, we discuss how the corrective actions could be implemented in the sector in a smooth way and some potential benefits from its implementation.