Electronic waste is a "super gold mine"

The "gold content" of electronic waste is 40-60 times that of gold ore. The industrialization of electronic waste recycling and treatment is a development trend that cannot be ignored.

The garbage people discard daily can actually be piled up into mountains of gold. Today, people have become more and more aware of the preciousness of garbage! Recently, a new research report jointly initiated by the United Nations University and the "Global e-Sustainability Initiative" shows that the proportion of gold in electronic waste far exceeds the average grade of gold mines. While people are creating garbage, they also buy a large amount of recycled garbage, invest in building factories, and extract real gold and silver from it.

The "super gold mine" is right next to us

In the 1970s, Japan proposed to spend huge sums of money to buy garbage from China but kept silent about the use. In Japan, where the recycling and treatment system is already very complete, the published profit data of related industries show that: calculated by the gold content per kilogram, the gold content of old household appliances is about 20 times that of the gold ore with the highest gold content in South Africa, which is a veritable "super gold mine". There is a popular saying in Germany: "Today's garbage is tomorrow's mine."

At present, some Western countries have gained relatively mature experience in the treatment and recycling of electronic waste, and even formed an industry. For example, Finland and China recycle 50,000 tons of electronic waste each year, of which more than 50% are sorted and processed by Kusakowski. These electronic wastes include office automation equipment such as computers and printers, communication equipment such as telephones and mobile phones, household appliances such as microwave ovens and refrigerators, and electronic entertainment equipment such as audio speakers.

In Finland, almost every community has a recycling center to recycle discarded electronic equipment. Some electronic waste contains harmful substances such as asbestos and mercury, which harm the environment. Kusakowski's pre-sorting plant first removes the harmful substances in the waste, then disassembles various electronic equipment and classifies them according to different materials. Some of these materials can be processed into raw materials and sold to factories that can reuse them.

In terms of recycling electronic waste, Kusakowski has formed a complete recycling and processing system. The company sends the classified electronic waste to the corresponding processing plants for crushing, casting and other reprocessing, so that the electronic waste can be turned into various industrial production raw materials. Among the recycled waste, some materials are very valuable, including gold and silver.

So, what is the situation in China?

According to the report "Recycling - Turning Electronic Waste into Resources" released by the United Nations Environment Program, China will become the world's second largest producer of electronic waste. According to statistics, the world's electronic waste is currently growing at a rate of 36 million tons per year, of which China produces 2.3 million tons of electronic waste per year, only 700,000 tons less than the United States, the largest country in electronic waste. The report pointed out that by 2020, China's waste computers will double or triple compared with 2007, and China's discarded mobile phones will increase by 7 times.

China is a major producer and consumer of electrical and electronic products, and many products have entered the peak period of elimination and scrapping. At present, the annual discarded amount of five categories of products, including televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and computers, reaches tens of millions of units. In addition, a large number of electronic products such as mobile phones, copiers, printers, and fax machines are scrapped and eliminated.

The report speculates that each ton of circuit boards and each ton of mobile phones contain about 200 grams and 300 grams of gold respectively, while the average grade of gold ore is only 5 grams per ton. This means that for the same amount of one ton, the "gold content" of electronic waste is 40-60 times that of gold ore.

It can be seen that in today's highly expanded production and consumption of electrical and electronic products, the recycling and treatment of electronic waste is bound to move towards industrialization, which is a development trend that cannot be ignored. Its importance in the national economy even exceeds GDP. How can China welcome the birth of such a sunrise industry?

Recycling and treatment are highly encouraged

Related reports show that China has levied a fund for the treatment of discarded electrical and electronic products since July 1. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance said that the fund will be collected from the producers of five categories of products, including televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, room air conditioners and microcomputers, and the consignees of imported products or their agents. Exported electrical and electronic products are exempt from the fund.

The current fund collection standards are 13 yuan/unit for televisions, 12 yuan/unit for refrigerators, 7 yuan/unit for washing machines, 7 yuan/unit for room air conditioners, and 10 yuan/unit for microcomputers. Officials said that the fund can be reduced for electrical and electronic products that adopt design plans that are conducive to comprehensive resource utilization and harmless treatment, and are produced using environmentally friendly and recyclable materials.

Enterprises that have obtained the qualification to handle waste electrical and electronic products and are included in the development plans for the treatment of waste electrical and electronic products in various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities can apply for fund subsidies. The fund subsidy standards are 85 yuan/unit for televisions, 80 yuan/unit for refrigerators, 35 yuan/unit for washing machines, 35 yuan/unit for room air conditioners, and 85 yuan/unit for microcomputers.

The collection of funds for the treatment of waste electrical and electronic products is obviously intended to increase the encouragement of electronic waste recycling. It is understood that many cities in China are investing huge sums of money to establish electronic waste recycling and treatment projects. As early as the beginning of 2005, the Guangzhou Municipal Government decided to gradually establish a renewable resource recycling and utilization network system consisting of three levels: community recycling, market distribution and trading center, and comprehensive utilization and treatment. The Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Gardens recently revealed that the city plans to invest about 100 million yuan in the Eastern Solid Waste Treatment Center to build a waste electrical and electronic treatment plant with a treatment capacity of 200,000 to 400,000 units per year. In 2010, Chongqing Zhongtian Electronic Waste Treatment Company signed an agreement with the Municipal Development and Reform Commission to invest more than 100 million yuan in Bishan to build the city's first electronic waste treatment plant. After completion, nearly one million waste home appliances in Chongqing will be centrally processed here every year. Citizens only need to click the mouse at home to surf the Internet and someone will come to collect them.

The reporter learned that in Qingdao, Shandong, in addition to the original six major industrial clusters of electronics, home appliances, petroleum processing, automobiles, shipbuilding, and textiles and clothing, a circular economy industry integrating waste recycling-harmless treatment-resource recycling-processing and manufacturing-product sales has also been formed, just like the venous industry of the island city.

Xie Wenguo, consultant of Qingdao Xintiandi Venous Industrial Park, said that the Qingdao Xintiandi Venous Industrial Park, which was built this year, has formed an annual production capacity of 11.6 tons of precious metals from urban garbage, including 590 kilograms of gold and 10,610 kilograms of silver. In addition, whether the profit point is only in the recycling of electronic components, Xie Wenguo revealed that the second phase of construction will also include plastic processing, which will be processed into plastic particles. There are dozens of types of plastics on the refrigerator alone. If they are sold together, they are definitely not worth much. If they are separated by types and processed into plastic particles, they will be valuable. These are no longer far away, and the second phase will be completed.

In the second phase of the industrial park construction plan, there is a project called "International Renewable Resources Supervision Zone Logistics Center". In this project, it is clearly written that in 2012, the International Recycling Resource Supervision Zone Logistics Center will be able to process 493 tons of metal-rich materials per year and 11.6 tons of precious metals per year, including 590 kg of gold per year, 10,610 kg of silver per year, 340 kg of platinum per year, and 60 kg of palladium per year. By 2015, the capacity to process 5,000 tons of metal-rich materials will be reached. In other words, by 2015, the production capacity of this logistics center will be 12 times that of 2010.

Xie Wenguo revealed that in addition to precious metals, there may be more copper, aluminum and other metals in electronic components, circuit boards and integrated boards. These will become profit points. Although the amount of precious and rare metals extracted from each electronic product is very small, even the mobile phone with the highest gold content per unit volume only contains 0.04 grams of gold. In a general gold mine, 1 ton of ore contains only 5-10 grams of gold, while 1 ton of mobile phones can extract 300-400 grams of gold.

Extended reading

The overall status of electronic waste in China is worrying: Due to the relatively backward level of electronic waste recycling and treatment technology in China and the lack of strict law enforcement environment, most of the waste electrical appliances are either discarded at will or enter the manual workshops scattered across China, and are disposed of by simple manual disassembly, incineration, strong acid extraction and other methods to achieve the recovery of precious metals; while the remaining large amounts of heavy metals and highly toxic organic substances are arbitrarily and arbitrarily landfilled, directly discarded, and discharged into the natural environment without any environmental protection treatment, causing serious pollution such as heavy metals and highly toxic organic substances; at the same time, a large number of rare metals and engineering plastics that can be recycled are also wasted.

The harm caused by informal dismantling of electronic waste is serious. For example, in 2004, Shantou University Medical College conducted blood lead tests on children in Guiyu Town, Shantou City, Guangdong Province. The results showed that more than 80% of the children were lead poisoned, and the miscarriage rate and cancer incidence rate of local women were also higher than other areas.

Policies are pushing the industry to gradually get back on track: The severe current situation is forcing the Chinese government to introduce a series of policies to regulate the "free growth" of the electronic waste treatment and disposal industry. Since 2005, the Chinese government has successively issued dozens of policies, plans and laws related to the electronic waste treatment industry. In particular, the “Regulations on the Management of the Recycling and Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products” approved by the State Council in August 2008 (implemented on January 1, 2011)

China’s recent e-waste related industrial policies

The “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Promoting Circular Economy” adopted at the Fourth Session of the Eleventh National People’s Congress in January 2009

The “Regulations on the Management of the Recycling and Treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products” issued by the State Council in March 2009 (implemented on January 1, 2011)

The “Implementation Measures for the Replacement of Old Appliances for New Appliances” issued by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, etc. in June 2009

The “Measures for Subsidies for the Dismantling of Old Appliances for New Appliances” issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environmental Protection in April 2010

The “Notice on Further Standardizing the Replacement of Old Appliances for New Appliances” issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environmental Protection in April 2011

The “Work Plan for the Promotion of the Replacement of Old Appliances for New Appliances” issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Environmental Protection in June 2010

In September 2010, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the "Catalogue of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products (First Batch)"

In October 2010, the State Council issued the "Decision on Accelerating the Cultivation and Development of Strategic Emerging Industries"

In October 2011, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Establishing a Complete and Advanced Waste Commodity Recycling System"

In November 2011, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation issued the "Notice on Adjusting and Improving the Value-Added Tax Policy for Comprehensive Resource Utilization Products and Services"

In July 2012, the State Council issued the "Measures for the Collection and Use of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products Treatment Fund"

Recycling and treatment technology urgently needs to mature: At present, the workshop-style recycling enterprises that are widely available in China mainly use fire, strong acid dissolution and other methods to recycle rare and precious metals. However, due to the lack of necessary environmental protection measures, these recycling methods not only cause serious physical damage to the relevant practitioners, but also make the society and the natural environment face serious malignant pollution transfer. In the long run, this is an unsustainable business model.

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