Recycling rare metals from ICT wastes - Urban mining

WP3/5 Technical Session - Nov 25, 2010

Committed to Connecting the World

Recycling rare metals from ICT wastes

- Urban mining Eunsook Kim (Eunah)

Dave Faulkner

WP3/5 Technical Session

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Contents

Introduction Rare metals in ICT Recycling of rare metals Designing green standards for

recycling rare metals

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Waste Management with Smart ICT In the context of ICT, there is

Industrial waste during production Waste due to obsolescence

ICT producers are major consumers of minerals, which has environmental and economic implications The most commonly used metals in terms of volume are aluminium, iron,

copper, nickel, zinc and the lead in cathode ray tubes in televisions and monitors.

But other metals, only used in very small amounts, such as beryllium, europium, indium, tantalum and the platinum group are essential for today’s ICT

Extraction and mining of these commodities, largely in developing countries, is known to involve poor working conditions and to create serious health and environmental concerns

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Definitions of rare metals

Definition 1: Rare metals are those metals which are expensive or whose price has increased dramatically

Definition 2: Rare metals are metals with a low current availability

Definition 3: rare metals are metals which are only extracted in a few countries

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Source: TEXTE, 23/07 ISSN 1862-4804, Rare metals: Measures and concepts for the solution of the problem of conflict-aggravating raw materialextraction – the example of coltan



Rare metals in ICT (1/4)

A large number of rare metals are used in ICT products

A tonne of cell phones contains more gold than a tonne of ore from a typical gold mine. An average gold mine produces 5 grams of gold per

tonne of rock whereas cell phones contain 150 grams per tonne or

more. In addition, 100 kilograms of copper and 3 kilograms of

silver, as well as other valuable metals—all of which have been soaring in price.

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Rare metals in ICT (2/4)

Rare metals in a mobile phone

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Rare Metals in ICT (3/4) Selected rare metals in ICT goods and manufacturing

7Source: OECD, based on Angerer et al., 2009; Steinweg & de Haan, 2007; USGS, 2009



Rare metals in ICT (4/4) Rare metals are essential not only in existing ICT products

but also in emerging new ones such as electric vehicles ICTs are used for control systems, sensors, instrument panels, etc.

Benefits of ‘Green car’ Low emission High energy efficiency Smart/active driving Luxury

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Recycling of rare metals (1/5)

Urban mining: The process of reclaiming compounds and elements from products, buildings and waste

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Disused cell phones, LCD television and computers contain valuable rare earths, such as neodymium, which are in high demand, especially for hybrid vehicles. For example, each Toyota Prius requires approximately 2.2 pounds of neodymium.




Urban mining (cont’d)

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Recently the Japanese government launched an advertising campaign that included prizes offered, to get their citizens to recycle their unused cell phones. Over a half million were collected in 100 days, enough to yield close to - 50 pounds of gold - 175 pounds of silver - 2 pounds of palladium and - over 5 tons (10,000 pounds!) of copper

Sources:http://electronicrecyclers.com/urban-mining.aspx

http://www.ban.org/main/about_BAN.htmlhttp://www.ifat.de/link/en/23890451




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Source: urbanmining.org




A typical example of urban mining

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For efficient ‘collecting’ and ‘recycling’, related information from ‘production stage’ will give huge benefits for recycling rare metals

To harness the potential of urban mines, manufacturers are seeking to reintegrate used products and their components into the production cycle

Figure source: L.rareMetals




A ‘cradle to cradle’ raw material and recycling approach aims to keep all the materials in circulation [1] Design includes easy disassembly Obsolete products returned to factory No need for mining of raw materials Reducing unstable supply of rare metals

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[1] “Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things” [Paperback] William McDonough[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste



Design for recycling rare metals

Make it easy to disassemble products Keep all materials in constant circulation

(a closed loop system) Avoid the need to extract raw materials by

mining which is highly energy intensive, especially for electronics

Ensure a sustainable supply of scarce resourcesRequires complete knowledge of the supply

chain and raw materials used

14http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/29/content_9736158.htm



L.rareMetals

WP3 of SG5 is working on L.rareMetals, draft Recommendation of

a method to provide recycling information of rare metals in ICT products

Scope necessity and importance of rare metal recycling recycling procedure for rare metals communication format for providing recycling

information of rare metals in ICT products

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Benefits of Standards

Focus Requirements Drive up volumes for competitive supply Reduce cost Reduce risks (e.g stranded assets)

Any GHG savings can be multiplied worldwide across the whole industry

Can be used in procurement to help specify what is required Ensuring you are not asking for an expensive ‘special’



Benefits of ‘Green’ Standards

Provides purchasers with a readily available tool for sustainable procurement No need to start from scratch Examples of international standards bodies in this area

WRI, ISO, ITU-T, ETSI, EPEAT/IEEE

Makes (sustainability) requirements universal Drives down cost Reduces risk

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Rare Metal Recycling and Global Warming

Recycling and reprocessing reduces the fossil fuel energy needed to build a new product A closed loop system is needed then

Quantity of raw materials needed in a product is reduced Mining energy is reduced Embodiment energy is reduced CO2 emissions are reduced

More studies/contributions are needed in this area

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Your contributions are invited.

Thanks!

[email protected]@googlemail.com

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Recycling rare metals from ICT wastes - Urban mining

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