Electronic waste recycling facilities extract significantly more gold from a ton of discarded smartphones than traditional mining operations can extract from a ton of actual gold ore.

A closer look

Electronic waste recycling facilities extract significantly more gold from a ton of discarded smartphones than traditional mining operations can extract from a ton of actual gold ore. A typical smartphone circuit board contains trace amounts of precious metals like gold, silver, and platinum because they are highly efficient, corrosion-resistant electrical conductors. Consequently, our desk drawers are essentially miniature treasure chests filled with obsolete electronics we refuse to throw away just in case we magically need an iPhone 6 again. We are currently sitting on mountains of forgotten technological riches, hoarding dead lithium batteries and shattered screens like dragons who gave up on guarding real castles to protect a tangled ball of outdated charging cables instead