Mobile Phone Recovery
Could Britain be missing a trick and wasting a great opportunity to extract valuable metals from old electrical and electronic goods which are recycled abroad.
The Commons science committee has called on the government to take a lead in developing British resources for strategically important metals, which are vital to advanced manufacturing and low-carbon energy technologies. This could involve the launch of new mining operations in the UK and more specialized recycling centers.
Although the world is unlikely to run out of such materials – which include the “rare earth” elements as well as the platinum group and other scarce metals – within the next few decades, UK users could face shortages and prohibitively high prices, because some metals have monopoly or limited number of suppliers.
Its thought that some of the world’s rarest elements are proving vital function in electronics – and large countries of manufacture such as china has recently applied export quotas.
The popularity of smart phones, iphones, tablets and flat screen TVs has triggered a 150 per cent jump in the price of a little-known metal call Iridium which is used in the manufacture of backlit screens. The demand for iridium – one of the earth’s rarest metals, has more than quadrupled in the last year and although Britain is good at recycling bulk metals such as iron and aluminum, it is less successful at extracting small amounts of rare and precious metals from scrap.
The sudden rush of buying the latest range of mobile phones and ipads has sent the price of iridium soaring, which has triggered a boom for the few lucky suppliers. However, iridium’s golden age may be just beginning as the drive for environmentally friendly lighting in homes, streets and cars could spur a rush for iridium.
According to Paul Walker, chief executive of GFMS, the metals consultancy “We’re on the cusp of an explosion in growth of LED applications. The question comes down to what technology do you use to grow the LED crystals and that all depends on the price”.
There is significant potential for the UK to improve its efficiency of metal use, reuse and materials recovery and its vital that the UK explores these options without delay. Life cycle thinking is really the way forward if we are to protect our valuable world resources. Manufacturers are being encouraged to embrace a “cradle-to-cradle” approach, in which a little forward recovery thinking could produce technology which is also designed for disassembly at the end of their life resulting in greater recovery and reuse of our valuable resources.
