A Canadian companysays it can recoveraround 99% of the gold used in electronics circuits using new chemical techniques.
Recycling could cut the cost of personal electronics by reducing waste.
It’s part of a growing effort to keep components from damaging the environment.
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The company Excir claims its proprietary chemical process can extract precious metals from circuit boards in seconds.
Also, metals contained in consumer electronics are valuable.
“Would you throw away your grandmother’s solid gold wedding ring?”
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“Of course notit’s valuable.
While electronics contain a fraction of the gold in jewelry, it nonetheless contains gold.
There are many different ways to recover precious metals from e-waste.
However, current technologies have their disadvantages, Pigott said.
“You’ve got incineration and smelting, which is not ideal for environmental purposes,” he added.
When electronic waste isn’t recycled, it often goes to a landfill.
A new technology calledoptical sortation can automatically sort based on the color of the materials.
Better recycling techniques will keep the cost of consumer electronics down, Shine said.
