Safe recycling of materials containing persistent inorganic and carbon nanoparticles

For persistent inorganic and carbon nanomaterials, considerable scope exists for a form of recycling called ‘resource cascading’. Resource cascading is aimed at the maximum exploitation of quality and service time of natural resources. Options for resource cascading include engineered nanomaterials applied in suspensions, nanomaterials embedded in, or bound to, large-sized materials, and nanoparticles present in wastes. Resource cascading of nanomaterials is linked to resource savings and hazard minimization. Further work is required regarding options for resource cascading and the minimization of related environmental burden thereof and to make resource cascading of nanomaterials fully operational.