Recycling critical metals from e-waste

The programme for the final day of July's Sustainable Minerals '22 is devoted to critical minerals, those that  are essential to the green revolution, but whose future supply cannot be guaranteed due to scarcity and geopolitical factors. The day will end with a 2 hour panel discussion "Will the production of critical minerals be sufficient to satisfy the green revolution". The image below from the European Chemical Society, shows very clearly the elements in the Periodic Table which are most at risk.

Primary mining alone will not be enough to satisfy future supplies and major research efforts are being made around the world to develop methods of recycling these minerals from end of life commodities. The second day of the conference will focus solely on recycling and we welcome further input from workers involved with this crucial area of research.

Much of the research into secondary sources is focused on e-waste and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has recently said that the recycling of e-waste must urgently be ramped up because mining the Earth for precious metals to make new gadgets is unsustainable. One study estimated that in 2021 the world's mountain of discarded electronics weighed 57 million tonnes. All the while, the amount of e-waste generated is growing by about two million tonnes every year, and less than 20% is collected and recycled. 

Over 60% of the world’s population owns a mobile phone and smartphone adoption continues to rise in developing countries around the world, and as technology continues to improve so will the demand for the metals necessary for the next generation of smartphones, most smartphones carrying roughly 80% of the stable elements in the periodic table.

Breakdown of critical metals in a smartphone
Source: University of Birmingham

"Our tech consumption habits remain highly unsustainable and have left us at risk of exhausting the raw elements we need," said Prof Tom Welton, president of the RSC, adding that those habits were "continuing to exacerbate environmental damage".

So do try and join us online in July for Sustainable Minerals '22, and if you have something to say it is not too late to submit an abstract.

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