Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers ISSN:2288-0291(Print) 2288-2790(Online) 한국자원공학회지

This study analyzed material flow and estimated recycling indicators of silver in Korea. All the traded quantities of silver articles are converted to silver ingot equivalent using price ratio of each articles. Consumption quantities are classified by using field categorized with the end users. Generation and recycling of old silver scrap was estimated using life time and waste generation rate by goods. The recycle ratio defined as the ratio between recycled quantity and the total supply quantity has shown a little decreasing trend since local production is increased affected by the price hike. Also the recycle efficiency defined as the ratio of recycle quantity over annual scrap generating quantity has shown a narrow band between 25% and 30% level. This result means that silver used in electricity/electronic fabrication can be recycled only after the life-time of the goods and the increasing export volume of electric/electronic goods has lowered the old scrap generated volume in domestic market.