NGO, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) recently called for EU countries to step up their game on resource efficiency and recycling.
EEB believes Europe should avoid focusing unduly on the issue of rare earth supply and the difficulties of recovery. They point out that there are existing technologies that can recover vital resources such as lithium and platinum that are used in mobile phones and batteries. EEB would like to see a legal framework to facilitate a rapid increase in recycling effectiveness and viability.
Umicore, the Belgium global materials technology group, who are one of the leaders in recycling and waste recovery strongly support EEB’s recommendations.
Umicore currently run the world’s largest facility for refinement of precious metals, which is partially operated on electronic scrap. The company wants to close the waste loop on all materials by moving from traditional waste to quality recycling of high technology products. They argue that recycling of scarce and precious raw materials should be done, regardless of economic viablility, because doing so will contribute to securing European resources.
The European Commission considers there is considerable potential in developing urban mining – resource recovery from waste – as a way of gaining better access to raw materials. As an example of the massive difference between the materials concentration in the two types of mines, Umicore say that a primary mine is likely to yield five grams of gold in one tonne of ore, which compares with 250 grams in one tonne of circuit boards. One tonne of mobile phones would yield 300-350 grams.
20% of the cobalt mined today could already be recycled if all mobile phones and laptops were recycled. Currently only 2% of mobile phones are collected globally.