Urban mining: on the potential and multifaceted challenges of facilitating recycling of wire-based city infrastructure

This chapter synthesizes findings of a series of projects on the recycling potentials of wire-based infrastructure systems of the cities of Linköping and Norrköping in Sweden. In contrast to other studies on urban stocks, very detailed investigations of the wire systems and their metal contents have been performed, and their recovering potentials assessed. The chapter presents an overview of identified accumulation processes for disconnected subsurface infrastructure. An approach for performing contextualized assessments of the feasibility of urban mining is presented and the challenges connected to making recycling an integral part of infrastructure management discussed. Only in connection with maintenance, infrastructure recycling currently makes economic sense, but the emerging needs for renewal of such networks offer a unique opportunity for changed practices. For this to happen, there is a need to reformulate the purpose of cable recycling, from only metal recovery to contributing to core values of net owners and municipalities.