E-waste is a global problem, while the mining of fresh resources for electronics leaves devastation in its wake. And yet, the more cutting-edge our devices, the harder they are to recycle.
Toxic chemicals such as bromine, antimony and lead are finding their way into food-contact items and other everyday products because manufacturers are using recycled electrical equipment as a source of black plastic.
Daisy can take apart up to 200 iPhone devices per hour, removing and sorting components, so that Apple can recover materials that traditional recyclers can’t — and at a higher quality.
A new biochemical leaching process to recover valuable rare earth metals from discarded electronics has been developed the US researchers. And the key ingredient is somewhat unusual: corn.
Nearly 45 million tons of electronics were thrown out in 2016. The value of the raw materials in that e-waste is about $55 billion, but most of that waste isn’t being recovered.
