2007-03-07 - Finding gold in the mountains of hi-tech scrap

Source: Calcutta News.Net

The United Nations University together with the UN, industry and other partners is set to create standards for e-scrap recycling and reap a harvest of valuable components from the growing pile of e-waste across the globe.

This will be done under the global public-private initiative called solving the E-Waste Problem (StEP) launched Wednesday.

Valuable resources in every scrapped product with a battery or plug - computers, TVs, radios, MP3 players, toasters, hair-dryers, to name but a few - are being trashed in rising volumes worldwide.

Worse, items charitably sent to developing countries for re-use often ultimately remain unused for a host of reasons or are shipped by unscrupulous recyclers for illegal disposal.

But now efforts are being launched to standardise recycling processes globally and harvest valuable components in electrical and electronic scrap (e-scrap) under StEP.