Conserve Precious Metals With Ewaste Recycling

If you thought that all precious metals ended up only in exquisite jewelry, you are mistaken. A large percentage of precious metals like palladium, cobalt, silver and gold are practically used in electronic equipment like mobile phones and computers. So while men, women and even children in developing countries laboriously mine for these precious metals, there are others who simply walk in to stores to upgrade their mobile phone, HDTVs or laptop to the latest that technology offers, without a single thought of what would happen to their old electronic gadgets once they have stopped using them EScrap.

Loss of natural resources can prove to be expensive

In most countries, electronic waste is collected at depots by Ewaste recycling companies and either sent to a landfill where it stays or is shredded into bits by recycling companies. It is then shipped off to countries like China and India for processing. So whether the Ewaste is stuck in a landfill or it is being sent overseas, it means that the country is losing out on precious metals, for instance a ton of old mobile phones may contain more than 100 kg of copper, three kg of silver or over 200 grams of gold.

Ewaste recycling is the key

Ewaste recycling is the answer to the ever increasing issue of electronic waste and the losses and hazards that it poses. It is a known fact that almost all components of Ewaste can be recycled. In fact, around 90% of the material that is used to make televisions and computers can be recycled. Ewaste recycling companies have procedures that are easy, yet much less expensive than traditional mining. Studies have shown that it is actually possible to extract a gram of gold from around 41 old mobile phones. Metals found in rejected electronic products are 100% recyclable and can be reused continually. Non-ferrous metals like aluminum and copper is re-smelted and re-manufactured. Ferrous metals such as steel and iron is also reclaimed and reused Ewaste.

Reclaiming precious metals

A procedure of grinding the valuable Ewaste into a powder is followed by putting this concentrate into flotation plants to separate the minerals. Froth flotation is carried out by pumping in air to form bubbles, thus allowing the precious metals to be scooped off the top. Researchers claim that the concentration of precious metals is relatively higher in Ewaste, as compared to the normal concentration in ore.