World U.K. Royal Mint starts extracting gold from e-waste: "What we're doing here is urban mining"

Haley Ott

Updated on: August 7, 2024 / 12:58 PM EDT / CBS News

London - The U.K.'s Royal Mint, the country's official coinmaker, has opened a factory that will extract gold from e-waste to reduce its reliance on traditional mining and encourage more sustainable practices.

"The factory underpins our commitment to using sustainable precious metals and providing a new source of high quality, recovered gold," Sean Millard, Chief Growth Officer at The Royal Mint, said in a statement. "It allows us to reduce our reliance on mined materials and is another example of how we're working to decarbonise our operations." MORE…

Pretty funny - It takes the gold of more than 100 sticks of ram to make a coin the size of a penny.

Recycling critical metals from electronics could ease mining impacts

Maddie Stone reports for Grist.

In short:

• The latest Global E-Waste Monitor highlights the vast quantities of metals like copper and aluminum in discarded electronics, with only a fraction currently recycled.

• Essential for low-carbon technologies, these metals could significantly offset the demand currently met through environmentally damaging mining.

• Improved recycling technologies and policies are crucial for increasing the recovery of rare and valuable metals from e-waste.

Key quote:

“There is very little reporting on the recovery of metals [from e-waste] globally. We felt that it was our duty to get more facts on the table.”

— Kees Baldé, lead report author

Why this matters:

Metals like copper and aluminum, when improperly disposed of, can leach into soil and water, potentially harming wildlife and impacting human health through the food and water supply. Recycling e-waste can mitigate these risks. By recovering metals like copper and aluminum from old electronics, we not only reduce the environmental harm but also decrease the need to extract raw materials, which often involves ecologically and socially harmful mining practices.

In 2021, electronic waste from outweighed the Great Wall of China.

https://www.ehn.org/recycling-critical-metals-from-electronics-could-ease-mining-impacts-2667811868.html

E-Waste Revolution: Unraveling Growth Trends and Key Players in Vietnam's Electronic Waste Market 2024-2032

PRESS RELEASE

Published January 8, 2024

IMARC

Vietnam Electronic Waste Market Outlook

According to a new report by Expert Market Research titled “Vietnam Electronic Waste Market Size, Share, Growth, Analysis, Report, Demand, Forecast 2024-2032″, the Vietnam electronic waste market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.20% between 2024 and 2032. Aided by the country’s rapid technological advancements, increased gadget consumption, and the subsequent surge in e-waste generation, the market is expected to grow significantly by 2032. READ MORE…

Amazingly, Triangle Ecycling is selling hundreds of laptops to buyers in Viet Nam via eBay and US freight forwarders in Portland, OR.