[en] Many impurity atoms sputtered from a limiter or divertor plate are ionized in the scrapeoff zone and return to the sputtering surface bacause of friction with incoming plasma ions. The final charge state attained by such impurities has been calculated for a variety of plasma edge conditions. The surface materials considered are tungsten, beryllium, beryllium oxide, and carbon. Estimates of the successive ionization cross sections for tungsten are developed. In all cases examined, returning impurity ions are found to be multiply ionized. This implies a significant energy gain in the sheath region, with important implications for self-sputtering of redeposited surface material