Around 50 million tons of E-waste is generated per year. To put this in perspective, 1000 laptops would be thrown out every second. E-waste stands for electronic waste or in other words the waste generated when technology is thrown out.
E-waste can have many detrimental effects on the environment. Most electronics have elements that can be toxic to the environment like lead, arsenic, or mercury. The production of electronics also has a detrimental impact on the environment because the mining and refining required to obtain the gold, silver, and cadmium used in most technologies generates large amounts of carbon emissions.
Recycling E-waste can recover the elements and compounds in old electronics. The recovered elements can then be reused to make new electronics which reduces the price of buying materials for manufacturers and reduces the negative environmental impact the production of electronics has.
A study by the Yeongran Hong of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology used a polymer linked with the organic compound porphyrin to extract gold from circuit boards. First acid is used on the circuit boards to release the different elements that they want to collect. Then, the polymer, which has many pores that want to have a metal ion, is used to extract the gold ions. After some time, acid can be used to make the polymer let go of the gold ions. The study found that using this method over 90% of the gold was recovered. This method is not only efficient and environmentally friendly but it also is cost-effective. The polymer only costs $5 per gram to produce and can easily recycle gold from electronics worth $64 per gram.
The further development of this technology may revolutionize the technology industry. The cost of technology may decrease as the result of using recycled materials to produce certain parts of technology such as salvaging gold to create a new motherboard. As this process becomes more wide-spread, the negative environmental impact of the technology industry will likely decrease in the future.
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