New mobile phone recycling solution developed in Australia
Wednesday, August 3, 2016 - 11:48:23
Old mobile phones are full of valuable minerals and so even if they are damaged beyond repair, there is still some innate value in them, which is why you can sell used handsets online even if they are in a bad condition.
In many instances, these devices are shipped to high capacity facilities in which they are smelted to extract metals including gold and copper. But researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia have developed a small scale equivalent of this system, which will reduce the carbon footprint of mobile phone recycling and make it far more sustainable.
Lead by Professor Veena Sahajwalla, the prototype system is designed to be small enough to be operated by communities across the world, with the intention of allowing people to generate an income from recycling old phones and other electronics.
Another advantage of this solution is that as well as allowing metals to be extracted from old hardware, it also enables the potentially hazardous substances contained within to be destroyed in the process, ensuring that they do not do damage to the environment.
While the system may be small in scale, it is advanced in its abilities, making use of drones and robotics in order to identify metals and remove them effectively from a wide range of products. And since a tonne of old smartphones contains 130kg of copper and 3.5kg of silver, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, it makes sense to not allow this to go to waste by sending it to landfill or transporting it thousands of miles for processing.
Mobile phone recycling is an effective tool to combat electronic waste, but reuse should always be a top priority, which is why the best recycling firms will refurbish and resell as many devices as possible.
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