-
Setting up microfactories to recycle e-waste
Last updated on Nov 20, 2016, 06:35 pm
-
Several studies revealed old cellphones, tablets, computers and other electronic waste could be converted into "gold mines".
Veena Sahajwalla, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology at the University of New South Wales, explained how we could make use of e-waste.
Her solution involves microfactory: a recycling and reclamation system, small and efficient enough to be set up across the globe.
-
In this articleVeena Sahajwalla's statement Amounts of valuable materials found in each phone are small Pre-programmed automated drones would pick circuit boards from e-waste Microrecycling, the new scientific paradigm Microfactories create jobs and local resources Microfactories make extracting rare earth elements from e-waste easy
-
Quote
Veena Sahajwalla's statement
-
"If everyone has to do it (converting e-waste into valuable materials), we can't think about large smelters - we need to see this as decentralized and distributed manufacturing, where the resource and inputs are things that we all hold in our hands."
-
E-waste
Amounts of valuable materials found in each phone are small
-
Microfactories enable local recycling of electronic waste and could be apt into manufacturing systems using reclaimed resources.
E-waste consists of metals like iron, silver, gold, copper, platinum, palladium, rare earth elements, glass, and plastic.
Amounts found in each phone are small - 0.034 gm of gold - but they quickly add up considering that over 42 million tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2014.
-
Microfactories
Pre-programmed automated drones would pick circuit boards from e-waste
![Pre-programmed automated drones would pick circuit boards from e-waste]( "Pre-programmed automated drones would pick circuit boards from e-waste")
-
Reportedly, most of the e-waste is shipped around the world for processing in places like Guiyi in Southeastern China - one of the most polluted places in the world.
According to Sahajwalla's vision of the microfactories, pre-programmed automated drones would pick out circuit boards or other such items from e-waste.
The boards are then put into a small furnace to extract valuable materials.
-
Quote
Microrecycling, the new scientific paradigm
-
Veena Sahajwalla said, "Microrecycling is the new scientific paradigm. Conventional recycling works for the macro-scale but we need to look at the micro-scale, for example where you have mixtures of copper and nickel and zinc together."
-
Valuable resources
Microfactories create jobs and local resources
![Microfactories create jobs and local resources]( "Microfactories create jobs and local resources")
-
Sahajwalla said microfactories create jobs and local resources; they create entirely new small-scale industries by using the resource outputs.
They also give existing small businesses the chance to carve new niches.
She said small-to-medium enterprises, hungry for innovative solutions, have given good feedback.
Embedded resources from e-waste are expected to be worth $52 billion; extracting them from the earth is harder compared to e-waste.
-
Easy Approach
Microfactories make extracting rare earth elements from e-waste easy
![Microfactories make extracting rare earth elements from e-waste easy]( "Microfactories make extracting rare earth elements from e-waste easy")
-
Microfactories make extracting rare earth elements from e-waste easy compared to previous approaches.
In e-waste materials like hard-drives, rare earth elements are combined with iron, which aren't easily recyclable.
Sahajwalla wants to make the energy inputs into the microfactories as sustainable as possible.
Avoiding the energy-intensive transportation of waste in the world, she sees the microfactories as the embodiment of decentralized and distributed marketing.
