Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Science

Europe's e‑waste is a valuable resource—let's not throw it away

Throwing something away that is urgently needed, expensive and difficult to source sounds crazy. Yet of the 60 metals contained in old electronic devices such as phones, screens and washing machines, only a few are recycled. That includes precious metals such as gold and silver and other metals such...

Europe's e‑waste is a valuable resource—let's not throw it away
Image: Phys.org
Throwing something away that is urgently needed, expensive and difficult to source sounds crazy. Yet of the 60 metals contained in old electronic devices such as phones, screens and washing machines, only a few are recycled. That includes precious metals such as gold and silver and other metals such as aluminum and copper. The rest are effectively single-use metals, used once and then lost during collection or through incineration.

Originally published at Phys.org

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