Hundreds of tons of gold, platinum, indium and neodymium are contained in the electronic waste squirreled away in European households. In future it will be possible to oversee and use this enormous depot of precious raw materials more effectively. Image: Empa
In January 2018 the first pan-European database for secondary raw materials, including many "critical" ones, went online. Ever since, we have known more about which raw material depots reside in cars, batteries and electronic devices sold, used and stored in the 28 EU countries - and ultimately recycled or disposed of. Empa played a key role in the ProSUM project. Every European owns an average of 250 kilograms of electrical and electronic devices. These are joined by 15 kilograms of lead batteries and two kilograms of other kinds of batteries, including 500 grams of lithium ion batteries, and a 60-kilogram share of a car. All these goods eventually break down or become obsolete. Some of them are thrown away and recycled, others are resold on platforms like ebay and ricardo.
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