Let me share this interesting piece with you all.

A number of major European organisations have united to create the first database of valuable materials available for "urban mining" from scrap vehicles, spent batteries, waste electronic and electrical equipment, and mining wastes.

The Urban Mine Platform (urbanmineplatform.eu), created by 17 partners in project ProSUM (Prospecting Secondary Raw Materials in the Urban Mine and Mining Wastes), presents the flows of precious and base metals and critical raw materials in products in use and throughout their journey to end of life. 

The database reveals the amount of valuable materials recovered or lost in the EU's scrap vehicles, batteries, computers, phones, gadgets, appliances and other high tech products discarded annually - roughly 18 million tonnes in all the weight of 3 million African elephants.

The EU, Norway and Switzerland generated around 10.5 million tonnes of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in 2016 - about 23% of the world total.  In addition, 2 million tonnes of batteries and some 7 to 8 million tonnes of EU vehicles reach their end-of-life annually.  All represent a rich source of secondary critical raw materials (CRMs).  

It is interesting to note that the world's 44.7 metric tonnes of e-waste alone (not including vehicles) in 2016 contained ?55 billion worth of precious metals and other high value materials.

The Urban Mine Platform contains data for elements and materials in high abundance in these waste products, mainly base metals, precious metals, and critical raw materials.

Dynamic charts offer detailed data and market intelligence on:

?        -  The number and type of products placed on the market, in-stock (in use and hibernating), and generated as waste

?       -  The compositions of key components, materials and elements, such as aluminium, copper, gold or neodymium, in batteries, electronic and electrical equipment (EEE), and vehicles

?         - Waste flows, including amounts collected, estimates for small batteries and EEE in unsorted municipal solid waste, exported used vehicles, as well as the amount of vehicles, batteries and EEE of unknown whereabouts. 

If all of the EEE in stock in households, businesses and public space was shared out between each EU28+2 inhabitant, each person would own close to 44 EEE products plus another 12 (energy saving) lamps and 33 light fittings, which are counted separately. In addition, there is 0.50 vehicle per person in the fleet. In vehicles, electronics and other applications, there are another 40 batteries in stock per person. 

Each EU inhabitant would own 250 kg of electronics 3.5 times the average adult weight in addition to 17 kg of batteries and almost 600 kg of vehicles.

A smartphone contains around 40 different critical raw materials, with a concentration of gold 25 to 30 times that of the richest primary gold ores.  Furthermore, mining discarded high tech products produces 80% less carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gold compared with primary mining operations.

ProSUM has shown that an increasing number of products contain precious resources such as neodymium (vital for making permanent magnets in motors), indium (used in flat panel displays) and cobalt (used in rechargeable batteries). The Urban Mine Platform makes it possible to see the stocks and flows of these products.

Big Data for a Big Challenge

Every year across Europe, around 9 million tonnes of WEEE and 8 million tonnes of ELVs are generated and over 1 billion batteries are sold. These products are a rich source of secondary critical raw materials in the urban mine.

Until now, the data on secondary critical raw materials has been produced by a variety of institutions including government agencies, universities, NGOs and industries and lies scattered in different databases, formats and reports which is difficult to compare or aggregate.

With the launch of the first Urban Mine Knowledge Data Platform the recycling industry will have at its fingertips, seamless access to data and intelligence on mineral resources, from extraction to end of life products, with the ability to reference all spatial and non-spatial data.

In a circular economy, today?s goods are tomorrow?s resources. Traditional linear take-make-dispose approaches are not sustainable. It can?t make environmental or economic sense to use energy and resources to dig stuff out of the ground and convert it to materials and products, only to dump it back into the ground again

 

Don't you agree with me that such Urban Mine Database is definitely set to benefit a Circular Economy.

 

 

References:

https://waste-management-world.com/a/eus-first-map-of-valuable-resources-from-e-waste-elvs-mining-waste?utm_source=Waste+Management+World&utm_campaign=44a9bb3457-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ce30fc7bcc-44a9bb3457-111897513

http://www.prosumproject.eu/

e-Waste Monitor