Blast Furnace Slag Disposal Problems in the Context of the Transition to a Circular Economy

Abstract

The problem of the accumulation of waste from the metallurgical industry in Ukraine, in particular, blast furnace slag, has an economic and environmental component. Therefore, the main problems, first of all, include the absence of a criterion for the greening of the industrial sector among the priorities of Ukraine's economic policy. The article examines the situation in the slag industry of Ukraine, summarizes the existing experience of using metallurgical slags as technogenic raw materials. The problems of introducing a circular economy in the territory of intensive development of the metallurgical industry are considered primarily in the context of creating a flexible infrastructure for processing metallurgical waste, because the problem of waste is at the center of attention of the entire circular economy. But such an infrastructure cannot be created without overcoming the technological, economic, and institutional problems of utilizing blast-furnace slags in Ukraine, which hinder the creation of a slag processing industry on the principles of a circular economy. Based on the assessment of macroeconomic and environmental effects from the introduction of elements of a circular economy in the domestic metallurgical industry, the resource value of blast furnace slags as a technogenic raw material for the construction industry, in particular the cement industry, as well as road construction and other areas of use, has been proved. The ways of solving the economic and institutional problems of slag processing at the macro-, meso- and microeconomic levels are given, proposals are made to improve the legal framework for the development of the circular economy, the participation of the state, local authorities and business in the creation of a domestic industry for the processing of blast-furnace slag.