There are not only steel, copper, aluminum but all the precious metals essential for smartphones, TVs, computers and other batteries: indium, this transparent metal that covers screens, lithium that engulfs in the batteries, the tungsten which makes vibrate the telephones, the gallium which makes shine the LEDs, the rare earths incorporated in the magnets and also the germanium, the tantalum and thirty other mineral rarities embarked in a Gust.
Electronic waste. © Ouest-France
All abound in the 53.6 million tonnes (the equivalent of 150 giant tankers) of electrical and electronic waste produced worldwide in 2019, according to the « Global E-waste Monitor 2020 », published by the UN. Value of metals contained in this waste: 47 billion euros. This is the gross domestic product of Côte d’Ivoire. But 82% are burned or buried. Only the European Union recycles a good part (42.5%). Everywhere else, the ceiling is 10%.
A European action plan in September
However, we tear off these metals. For its electric cars alone, the European Union will, by 2050, consume three times more nickel, fifteen times more graphite and cobalt, and sixty times more lithium. For thirty matters deemed critical, Brussels launched an action plan in September. Among the priorities, recycling.
In France, the Committee for Strategic Metals calls for an improvement in the collection rate, already by 50%. This is because we have to feed a very technological sector, which requires heavy investment but sees 40% of the richest waste going abroad.
Thus, only half of the 25,000 tonnes of computer motherboards, the most valuable, are processed in France. To speak only of gold, it is not less than 4 tons (three times the legal production of Guyana), with a value of 120 million euros, which fly away each year.
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