The issue of resource security has come to the forefront of the debate over recent years, partly due to considerable concern over the security of supply of so called "critical" materials, with rare earths attracting the greatest attention in the press. Their supply is fundamental to maintain and develop UK and EU economy, and its industries rely on a steady supply of raw materials. There is an increasing scarcity and raising prices of both energy raw materials and other raw materials, such as metals and minerals. This means that the recycling and recovery of these materials from anthropogenic deposits, such as landfills, is of increasing relevance. Europe has somewhere between 150,000 and 500,000 landfill sites, with an estimated 90 percent of them being "non-sanitary", and pre-dating the EU Landfill Directive of 1999.
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