‘ Urban mining ‘ is the new term that will slowly come into our lives as 17 European organizations work together to create the world’s first integrated database of all kinds of useful materials, which can be made available again through recycling from electronic waste (electronic and electrical equipment), used batteries, scrap vehicles, and other extractive waste.
The Urban Mine Platform was created by the 17 partners of the ProSUM Consortium (Prospecting Secondary Raw Materials in the Urban Mine and Mining Wastes), with the aim of assisting in the recovery and re-use of valuable secondary raw materials. euro, but are discarded every year, and could be reused.
These are both precious and basic metals as well as other critical materials.
According to data released by the consortium, at least 18 million tonnes of useful raw materials are disposed of each year in Europe, with withdrawn vehicles, batteries, computers, mobile phones, electrical and other electronic devices. weigh as many as three million elephants.
Europe generated 10.5 million tonnes of e-wastes in 2016, about a quarter of the world (23%). To this should be added about two million tonnes of batteries and seven to eight million tonnes of withdrawn vehicles.
All of the above solid wastes, which have completed their life cycle, are a rich – but largely untapped – source of critical secondary raw materials (CRMs).
The recent international report on electrical and electronic waste (Global e-Waste Monitor) reports that 44.7 million tonnes of e-waste in 2016 (excluding vehicle scrap) contained precious metals and other useful materials, total worth 55 billion euros, including gold, copper, aluminum, neodymium, indium, cobalt.
“Vital tool”
The ProSUM Consortium, which created the new Platform, considers the extraction of municipal waste as a vital tool to safeguard European raw materials industry and reduce its dependence on suppliers outside the EU.
The aim is to better coordinate recycling programs, targeted investment in this direction, and appropriate policies, so that less and less useful materials end up in the trash.
ProSUM estimates that if all the electronics stored in households, businesses and public places were distributed to all residents of Europe 28, Switzerland and Norway, then, on average, a European would It owned 250kg of electronics, 17kg of batteries and nearly 600kg of vehicles.
According to the report, a typical “smart” cellphone contains about 40 different materials, and in particular its gold content is up to 30 times higher than that found in the richest gold deposits.
As for batteries, out of the two million tonnes that are dumped annually (90% contain lead), only half are known for their fate. Batteries could be a major source of lithium (7,800 tonnes per year), cobalt (21,000 tonnes) and manganese (114,000 tonnes).
As for junk vehicles in Europe, they represent a large source of secondary commodities such as steel (213 million tonnes), aluminum (24 million tonnes) and copper (7.3 million tonnes), as well as platinum and palladium used to the catalysts. Modern cars also contain an increasing amount of critical raw materials thanks to their electronic components.
Hellas
For Greece, too, these streams of municipal waste are an important source of useful raw materials.
According to Eurostat, 45,420 tonnes of electrical and electronic waste were collected in 2014, representing 4.02kg per capita, as well as 82,863 end-of-life vehicles.
Also, available data show that in 2015 in our country 567 tons of batteries were collected.
From Greece in the ProSUM consortium participated the Institute of Geological and Mining Research (IGME), as a member of the European Union of Geological Surveys (EuroGeoSurveys).
Katerina Adam, Associate Professor of the School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, NTUA, also participated in the External Experts Advisory Board.
As Mrs Adam told the Athens Macedonian News Agency, the ProSUM research program, with the three-year collaboration of 17 European partners, created a detailed database on the production, analysis and composition of selected waste streams and municipal waste streams.
“These data, already available online (RMIS – http: /rmis.jrc.ec.europa.eu), are expected to be widely utilized by waste producers, recycling companies, the scientific community and policy makers. in Europe and Greece, thus contributing significantly to the utilization of raw materials and the strengthening of the circular economy, “she added.