Highlights:
- Global production of electronic devices now use more than 320 tons of gold and 7,500 tons of silver annually.
- Annual value of gold and silver used is now $21 billion - equal to the total GDP of El Salvador
- Worldwide just 10-15% of gold in electronic waste is recovered.
- The Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) is working to help change perception of e-waste from a burden to an opportunity
From the article:
A staggering 320 tons of gold and more than 7,500 tons of silver are now used annually to make PCs, cell phones, tablet computers and other new electronic and electrical products worldwide, adding more than $21 billion in value each year to the rich fortunes in metals eventually available through "urban mining" of e-waste, experts say.
Manufacturing these high-tech products requires more than $16 billion in gold and $5 billion in silver: a total of $21 billion -- equal to the GDP of El Salvador -- locked away annually in e-products. Most of those valuable metals will be squandered, however; just 15% or less is recovered from e-waste today in developed and developing countries alike.
Electronic waste now contains precious metal "deposits" 40 to 50 times richer than ores mined from the ground, experts told participants from 12 countries at last week's first-ever GeSI and StEP e-Waste Academy for policymakers and small businesses, co-organized in Accra, Ghana by the United Nations University and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).
