AsianScientist (Apr. 11, 2018) – In a study published in Environmental Science and Technology, a group of scientists in China has demonstrated that recovering gold, copper and other metals from electronic waste (e-waste) is cheaper than obtaining these metals from mines.
Electronic waste—including discarded televisions, computers and mobile phones—is one of the fastest-growing waste categories worldwide. Projections indicate that about 50 million tons of e-waste will be discarded around the world in 2018, according to the United Nations’ Global E-waste Monitor report. This type of waste contains a surprising amount of metal. For example, a typical cathode-ray tube TV contains almost a pound of copper and more than half a pound of aluminum, though it only holds about 0.02 ounces of gold.
For years, recyclers have gleaned usable parts, including metals, from this waste stream. Such practices make sense from a sustainability perspective, but the economic merits of recycling e-waste have not been thoroughly examined.
In the present study, a research group led by Dr. Zeng Xianlai of Tsinghua Univesrity, China, obtained data from eight recycling companies in China to calculate the cost for extracting metals from e-waste, a practice known as ‘urban mining.’ The expenses of urban mining included the costs for waste collection, labor, energy, material and transportation, as well as capital costs for the recyclers’ equipment and buildings.
These expenses are offset by government subsidies and by revenue from selling recovered materials and components. The researchers concluded that with these offsets, it costs 13 times more to obtain metals from ore than from urban mining. The researchers also draw implications for the economic prospects of urban mining as an alternative to virgin mining of ores, based on the circular economy, or recirculation of resources.
The article can be found at: Zeng et al. (2018) Urban Mining of E-Waste is Becoming More Cost-Effective Than Virgin Mining.
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Source: American Chemical Society; Photo: Shutterstock.
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