Although there is no physical short-term scarcity of phosphorus, its resource efficiency should be improved

Scholz, Roland W.Roland W.ScholzWellmer, Friedrich-WilhelmFriedrich-WilhelmWellmer2022-03-052022-03-052019https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/25535310.1111/jiec.12750The German government has adopted a law that requires sewage plants to go beyond the recovery of phosphorus from wastewater and to promote recycling. We argue that there is no physical global short- or mid-term phosphorus scarcity. However, we also argue that there are legitimate reasons for policies such as those of Germany, including: precaution as a way to ensure future generations' long-term supply security, promotion of technologies for closed-loop economics in a promising stage of technology development, and decrease in the current supply risk with a new resource pool.encircular economyindustrial ecologymaterials efficiencyprecautionary principlerecyclingwastewater660628610620Although there is no physical short-term scarcity of phosphorus, its resource efficiency should be improvedjournal article