The EU is missing out on a huge opportunity to recover valuable materials from electrical and electronic waste, critical to the production of high technology consumer goods. A large percentage of electrical waste is sold, for a nominal amount to countries outside the EU. This not only raises ethical issues, but deprives the EU of valuable natural and economic resources.
Evolution of consumer technology is increasing, creating shorter product lifecycles and increasing the amount obsolete electronics, equipment that ends up as e-waste. Technology is becoming more accessible and with each advancement, more products are being manufactured and purchased, further increasing the demand for raw materials. This is especially true of rare metals, which are becoming more and more instrumental in the manufacture of new cutting-edge technologies.
Experts express concerns that material should be recovered from e-waste, not just for environmental reasons but for economic reasons too. Investing in high technology recycling systems, capable of extracting a wide range of valuable material, from diverse waste streams is becoming financially viable and is being overlooked by industry.
Source: Axion Group – Axion Consulting
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