Royal Mint is building the first recycling plant in the world that will extract gold from discarded laptops and phones.
This premium plant will be the first of its type to recover gold from circuit boards. The gold from these items will then be reused by the plant at their site in South Wales, Llantrisant.
What Kind of Tech Will They Be Using for the Extraction?
This tech which was created in Canada is capable of recovering 99 percent of the precious metals from E-waste that ends up in landfills.
This plant will also create some 40 jobs for engineers and chemists after its opening planned for next year.
The construction will start this month with the tech created by the Canadian-based Excir.
The Chief Growth Officer of Royal Mint, Sean Millard notes that they’re working with their Excir partners and together, they have introduced the first tech in the world in the UK that recovers precious metals from E-waste within seconds.
Millard also explains that this is a revolutionary approach with immense potential to reuse the unique resources on the planet, lower the environmental footprint that E-waste creates, and open up new job posts.
E-Waste Amount Is Increasing Every Year
According to their estimates, around 99 percent of the circuit boards in the UK are shipped overseas and treated in smelters at high temperatures.
With the amount of E-waste rising with each passing year, the problem is expected to only become bigger.
This plant will be the first of its type globally; tons of E-waste will be processed every week and it will provide a new source of premium gold to the Royal Mint.
The Chief Executive of the plant, Anne Jessopp, explains that this investment in a new plant will create a new leader in sustainably-sourced precious metals and enable the UK to get the much-needed solution to the E-waste issue.
More than 50 million tonnes of E-waste is produced on a global level every year and less than 20 percent of it is currently being recycled.
Unfortunately, this amount is expected to rise to 74 million tonnes by 2030 if nothing significant is done.
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