Sustainable minerals for a carbon-free future.
Electronics waste generation (e-waste) has been fueled by economic growth and the demand for faster, more efficient electronics.
Electric vehicles, phones, computers, and tablets are complex pieces of machinery.
Each contains a number of metals, including titanium, gold, platinum, and rare earth elements.
The glass and metals in end-of-life electronics components can be reused or recycled; however, conventional extraction methods rely on energy-intensive processes that are inefficient when applied to recycling e-waste that contains mixed materials and small amounts of metals. There are currently no environmentally friendly methods available to mine and to recycle many of the materials in e-waste.
Additionally, demand for these elements has an environmental and human health cost. Severe environmental damage has resulted from unregulated recycling practices at e-waste dumping sites.
Only 12-20% of e-waste is recycled through unregulated processes and by individuals in low-income countries where the environmental and health impacts are profound.
Burning the plastics to recover copper
E-waste also contains toxic heavy metals that leach into groundwater and pollute soils
Children who live near sites that have been contaminated by e-waste have extremely elevated levels of lead in the blood
We can do better…
We offer an alternative to traditional metal recovery that lowers the cost of metal reclamation, is carbon neutral, and is environmentally sound. This allows for a closed-loop metals lifecycle for high-tech manufacturers.
