Analysis of Factors with Considerable Action on Recycling WEEE Focused on Metals Recovery

Abstract

From an economic point of view, the driving force of rapid technological development of WEEE recycling solutions is the recovery of valuable metals, until not long ago just on copper and gold. Nowadays many other metals have become the target of WEEE recycling. From this point of view, the importance of WEEE recycling results from the analysis of factors with considerable action on this process. This paper highlights the necessity of WEEE recycling by analyzing the following key issues regarding the recovery of valuable metals. The study was mainly focused on the following aspects: electronic waste is a significant source of base and precious metals, and also of scarce metals; many of the metals which are essential in the manufacture of EEE; the availability of metals necessary in the production of EEE constantly decreases; supply shortages for many elements obtained from natural resources; worldwide ore reserves are limited and unequally distributed; in the world, the production of essential metals in the construction of a mobile phone is dominated by a few companies; the extraction of many metals in a ore deposit is co-dependent on other factors.