News Startups are raking in up to $85,000 per day by recycling gold and copper from electronics thrown in the trash — e-waste 'gold mining' efforts are...

[Admin]

Scrappers and small startups are starting to dig into the untapped potential of the modern-day e-waste industry. Startups are making tens of thousands of dollars per day from processing precious metals from old electronic circuit boards.

Startups are raking in up to $85,000 per day by recycling gold and copper from electronics thrown in the trash — e-waste 'gold mining' efforts are... : Read more

 

[why_wolf]

As with all business news, revenue without cost is a meaningless number. As far as we know it costs $150,000 a day to run the recycling operation.

 

[FoxtrotMichael-1]

In some ways this is kind of a bummer. I'm not sure what the breakdown of recycled components would look like by type, but I would hate to think of any beloved classic computers being recycled. There's even a fairly large niche for older PCs and even Y2K era PCs are making a bit of a comeback with collectors. You'd be surprised how many people would be interested to get their hands on "obsolete" ISA cards and accelerator boards. I guess to an extent this is necessary but it's also a double-edged sword.

 

[R1NO]

Title should read "A startup is taking in...."
There's no plural in this equation.

 

[abufrejoval]

In some ways this is kind of a bummer. I'm not sure what the breakdown of recycled components would look like by type, but I would hate to think of any beloved classic computers being recycled. There's even a fairly large niche for older PCs and even Y2K era PCs are making a bit of a comeback with collectors. You'd be surprised how many people would be interested to get their hands on "obsolete" ISA cards and accelerator boards. I guess to an extent this is necessary but it's also a double-edged sword.

You'd be surprised how few collectors there are for any of these. And few collectors go for items that are plentyful.

PCs alone were produced in millions already decades ago, have easily gone through ten generations by now and exceed an installed base of a billion. Even a few thousand collectors won't make a dent into that pile.

With mobile phones, TVs or household electrical and electronical devices we are talking much vaster scales and more frequent generational replacements.

I've been very glad that I could pass on most of my computers to family and friends over the decades, but I am convinced that my IBM PC-AT from 1986 didn't pass through many more hands and like its many later brethren hasn't been with us for decades. Was that ever properly recycled? Most likely not, because anything that wouldn't burn went into landfills for a long time.

So knowing that some companies actually work on technology to do better than "thermal recycling" sounds great, but I remain suspiciouis as to the quotas they actually achieve.

With ever more consumers growing a conscience, 'good news' like this will find corporate sponsors, while actual sustainability remains mostly a marketing ploy.

 

[FoxtrotMichael-1]

You'd be surprised how few collectors there are for any of these. And few collectors go for items that are plentyful.

PCs alone were produced in millions already decades ago, have easily gone through ten generations by now and exceed an installed base of a billion. Even a few thousand collectors won't make a dent into that pile.

With mobile phones, TVs or household electrical and electronical devices we are talking much vaster scales and more frequent generational replacements.

I've been very glad that I could pass on most of my computers to family and friends over the decades, but I am convinced that my IBM PC-AT from 1986 didn't pass through many more hands and like its many later brethren hasn't been with us for decades. Was that ever properly recycled? Most likely not, because anything that wouldn't burn went into landfills for a long time.

A quick search shows that an IBM PC-AT motherboard alone sold for $350 recently on eBay and complete PC-ATs are listed around $2,000. Amigas regularly sell for $500-1500, with the later models selling for over $2,000. Recycling isn’t as profitable as selling to collectors unless the condition is truly abysmal.

 

[t3t4]

$85K per day? I think that's a big stretch! But I've got my gold pile sitting in storage, it's hidden in plain sight 😁. I too thought about the recycling business venture, then I thought again! It's a lot of work for very little reward. But if you can pulverize the material into dust, it's pretty easy to separate material that way and it would save a ton of time. You still have to chemically dissolve the metals to separate them further. It is still a giant pain in every orifice.

 

[evdjj3j]

I can see a time in the future when we will mine garbage dumps for resources.

 

[stonecarver]

Watching the link to the video in the story shows alot of the behind the curtin of recycling. With the exception of the one main stream high tech plant in the video the average Joe is never going to hit it big.

Than the big question not raised yet where does that high tech plant do with the garbage leftover daily.

I'm all for recycling but when I see my trash truck guy pick up my trash + recycle cans on the same truck one right after the other it just kind of leaves you going ,hmmm?

 

[t3t4]

Watching the link to the video in the story shows alot of the behind the curtin of recycling. With the exception of the one main stream high tech plant in the video the average Joe is never going to hit it big.

Than the big question not raised yet where does that high tech plant do with the garbage leftover daily.

I'm all for recycling but when I see my trash truck guy pick up my trash + recycle cans on the same truck one right after the other it just kind of leaves you going ,hmmm?

There's gonna be waste for sure, but it's already pulverized and so much easier for mother earth to reclaim it by decomposition. But my trash guy does the same thing as yours, which is why I don't use 2 cans anymore if he's just going to undo the work I already did! I've complained to the trash company about this, and they did nothing to fix the problem. If they don't care then I can't force them too, but it pisses me right off when people are literally paid to do a job and still can't get it done!

 

[PEnns]

Watching the link to the video in the story shows alot of the behind the curtin of recycling. With the exception of the one main stream high tech plant in the video the average Joe is never going to hit it big.

Than the big question not raised yet where does that high tech plant do with the garbage leftover daily.

I'm all for recycling but when I see my trash truck guy pick up my trash + recycle cans on the same truck one right after the other it just kind of leaves you going ,hmmm?

It really depends where you live, what state, county, city etc... there is no one standard / one policy.

Where I live garbage is collected on specific days using different trucks than recyclables which are collected from different bins, using different trucks.

Even garden waste (tree branches, grass, leaves, fallen trees, etc) are collected also by different trucks on different days....from totally different bins!

 

[Co BIY]

I can see a time in the future when we will mine garbage dumps for resources.

That's why I support landfills.

Recycling it forward for future generations!

I'm all for recycling but when I see my trash truck guy pick up my trash + recycle cans on the same truck one right after the other it just kind of leaves you going ,hmmm?

Without even the fig leaf of separate bins - Shameful.

But if they aren't really meaningfully recycling it then one truck is better than two.

 

[passivecool]

e-waste recycling (better said waste segregation) is a legal obligation in Europe for a decade. Small electronic devices must be accepted back at any point of sale.

The critical question beyond cost - which will obviously improve with scale - is: what is the environmental impact of the processes necessary to extract the materials and how can this be done in a way that causes more good than harm? The gold is sold off on the world market, the toxic chemical waste you get to keep in the neighborhood.
It was clear to me that eventually the necessary volume on material would be available and business models would arise out of the academic research. As is outstanding with solar panel waste and e-vehicle battery recycling.

My OT rant:
Your garbage stinks? Hey guys: that's what taxes are for! You want great infrastructure but no one wants to pay for it. So you drink chlorine water and throw your dead hardware in the landfill till the country chokes on it. America is big, you can fill the entire grand canyon with it or build a new monument valley sculpture with the old server parts of the grand tech ten who pay no taxes.

When we start paying the true cost of the co2 and other environmental burdens, when companies are forced to mind the use of resources, human rights and ecological stability in the place of raw material extraction, then all of these processes will become suddenly viable and attractive.

 

[Tom Sunday]

I can see a time in the future when we will mine garbage dumps for resources.

My friend Harry now works in China as an Expat. Supervising the quality, production and export ready shipment certification for his U.S company PC products at the fully Chinese owned contracted factory. About Copper Harry said: "In 2023 China became the largest importer of scrap Copper in the world. China imports scrap Copper primarily from Japan, Germany, South Korea and the United States."

U.S scrap dealers argue the American scrap Copper going to China is of no use to them because it would cost too much to sort and then recycle…its simply unprofitable.” Harry also noted that now thousands of Chinese “underground and unskilled workers” including mom-and-pop operations (with children in tow) are sharing in the boom times. Huge scrap metal yards are now located and operating directly within most of the major Chinese shipping ports. Where formerly returned empty shipping containers are now arriving jammed-packed with scrap metal. Recycle pay per person is no more then USD 35-40 cents per hour. A mom and pop operation can usually produce a ton of ‘clean recyclable copper’ in about 30-40 days. In 2024 America a ton of Copper currently goes for $8,500 and Nickel for $15,000 per ton.

So it appears at a time when tens of thousands of products made in China are now flooding into the United States, there is at least one American product for which China has a nearly an insatiable demand — precious metal scrap.

 

[M0rtis]

This news is at least a decade old. The only thing new about it the word "startup" attached to it.
There is no secret sauce involved. Crush waste to dust, dissolve metals in hazardous chemicals, separate out.

Its only profitable in huge volumes or getting it done in a third world country by workers who are paid low wages and without any safety or environmental buffers in place.

 

[Tom Sunday]

Its only profitable in huge volumes or getting it done in a third world country by workers who are paid low wages and without any safety or environmental buffers in place.

No pun intended...you are right on the money! 💥