Discussion keeps the world turning.
Our city's greatest resources aren't buried underground.
They're hiding in plain sight within the very waste that we discard every day.
Today we'll journey into the unseen world of urban mining to discover how tomorrow's essential materials are being reclaimed from yesterday's forgotten trash.
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Round Table.
I'm Steve.
Thank you so much for sharing your time.
And for the show today, I'm with Fei-Fei and Yu Shan.
First up...
Cities are brimming with hidden treasures,
often concealed within construction debris, scrap metal, and discarded electronics.
Urban mining seeks to unlock this potential by recovering valuable materials,
thereby reducing landfill pressure and creating a circular economy where yesterday's waste becomes tomorrow's resource.
To tap into these reserves efficiently,
cities must implement intelligent sorting systems and also foster partnerships between municipalities.
waste managers and manufacturers.
It's not an easy job to do, but one worth doing.
Successful scaling ultimately depends on both innovative technology and economic incentives that make material recovery more profitable than traditional extraction.
Feifei and Nishan, good afternoon to you both.
Let's start with exactly what it is.