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Introduction, Vision, and Opportunities

Maria E. Holuszko1, Denise C. R. Espinosa2, Tatiana Scarazzato3, and Amit Kumar1

1NBK Institute of Mining Engineering, University of British Columbia, 6350, Stores Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada

2University of São Paulo, Polytechnic School, Department of Chemical Engineering, Av. Prof. Luciano Gualberto, 380 - Butantã, São Paulo - SP 05508-010, Brazil

3Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Department of Materials, 9500, Av. Bento Gonçalves, Porto Alegre - RS, 91509-900, Brazil

1.1 Background

The concept of sustainability defined by The United Nations Organization in 1987, which is valid even today, is based on the idea of "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (Nations 2019). Such a concept was complemented in The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development in which the three pillars of sustainability were defined: economic, environmental, and social development (Comission 2002).

Notwithstanding, the world currently faces a transition between the third and the fourth industrial revolutions, which began about five decades ago and has transformed our way of living. Also known as the Information Revolution, this period has been marked by swift advances in computer technologies, massive popularization of high-technology devices, and the growth of artificial intelligence (Carvalho et al. 2018; Rai and Lal 2000). The technological revolution brought up the creation of lithium-ion batteries, touchscreen devices, supercomputers, photovoltaic panels, and nanocomposites, and practically revolutionized the way the society interacts, the way energy is stored, and the advanced materials field for all industrial sectors.

Electrical and electronic equipment is one of the major consumers of metals such as copper, gold, silver, and iron. Namias (2013) suggested that electronic devices can contain up to 60 different elements that could be valuable or hazardous. Natural Resources Canada (2019) showed that globally 18% of aluminum, 31% of copper, 9.5% of gold, 9% of platinum group metals, and 24% of rare-earth elements were used in electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing in 2017. In the United States of America, 9% of total aluminum, 21% of beryllium, 19% of copper, 40% of gold, and 26% of silver were used in the electrical and electronic equipment manufacturing industry in 2019 (U.S. Geological Survey 2019). BullionStreet (2012) showed that approximately 290 tonnes of gold and 6800 tonnes of silver are consumed by the electronic industry every year. In the current scenario, the new manufacturing industry became dependent on less-known raw materials and increased the extraction of common metals from ores simultaneously. Indium, for example, despite being discovered in 1863, was found to be industrially applicable only in 1934. The use of indium in thin-film coatings, mainly as indium-tin-oxide compound (ITO) in liquid crystal display screens, increased its world consumption over 1000% since 1993 (Alfantazi and Moskalyk 2003).

Rare-earth elements (REEs) are also widely used in digital technologies such as disc drivers and communication systems but also in batteries and fuel cells for hydrogen storage, catalysts, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and fluorescent lighting. Back in 1950, the applications of REE in magnets of electric and electronic equipment were already known. Nevertheless, until 2010 their recycling rate was lower than 1% due to their relatively low prices (Gunn 2013). Between 2010 and 2015, the demand for REE surpassed its supply and continuously increased. As the production is almost totally held by few countries, the recycling of REE has become a paramount concern (Edahbi et al. 2019).

1.2 E-Waste

With the development of new technologies, especially in laptops, cellphones, and tablets, older technologies are getting obsolete, reducing the lifespan of electrical and electronics products and thus contributing to a higher rate of waste generation. As a result, close to 1 billion devices will be discarded within 4-5 years. The discarded electric and electronic equipment or their parts are considered e-waste. The European Commission Directive 2008/98/EC (2008) and the European Union Directive 2012/19/EU (2012) described e-waste as:

any electrical or electronic equipment which is waste (substance or object which the holder discards or intends or is required to discard), including all components, sub-assemblies, and consumables which are part of the product at the time of discarding.

Based on the definition of e-waste, the electrical or electronic equipment (EEE) itself was divided into six (6) classes in the Directive 2012/19/EU (The European Union 2012). These categories with the items (not limited to) in the categories are listed as,

1. Temperature-exchange equipment: refrigerators, freezers, air conditioning equipment and, heat pumps
2. Screens, monitors, and equipment containing screens (surface > 100 cm2): screens, televisions, LCD photo frames, monitors, laptops, and notebooks
3. Lamps: fluorescent lamps, high-intensity discharge lamps, including high-pressure sodium lamps and metal halide lamps, low-pressure sodium lamps and LED lamps
4. Large equipment (external dimensions > 50 cm): washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, electric stoves, musical equipment, large computer mainframes, large printing machines, copying equipment, large coin-slot machines, large medical devices, large automatic dispensers, and photovoltaic panels
5. Small equipment (external dimensions < 50 cm): vacuum cleaners, appliances for sewing, luminaires, microwaves, irons, toasters, electric kettles, clocks and watches, electric shavers, scales, radio, video cameras, electrical and electronic toys, sports equipment, smoke detectors, heating regulators, thermostats, small electrical and electronic tools, small medical devices, and small automatic dispensers
6. Small IT and telecommunication equipment (external dimension < 50 cm): mobile phones, GPS, pocket calculators, routers, personal computers, printers, and telephones

This electronic waste (discarded electronics) has been a growing concern around the world. The total e-waste generated around the globe in 2019 was 53.6 million tonnes and is expected to reach 74 million tonnes in 2030. The waste generated per capita increased from 6.1 kg per inhabitant in 2016 to 7.3 kg per inhabitant in 2019 (Forti et al. 2020). Wahlen (2019) reported that under the business-as-usual case, the total e-waste generation would increase to 120 million tonnes by 2050. The growth rate of e-waste generation has been reported to be 3-5% by Cucchiella et al. (2015), 3-4% by Baldé et al. (2017) and Aaron (2019), and as high as 8% by LeBlanc (2018). According to Transparency Market Research report (2017), the global e-waste market is anticipated to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 5.6% by volume from 2016 to 2026.

The fate of the e-waste can be described by the simplified diagram shown in Figure 1.1. The primary focus of any country or organization should be the collection and recycling of e-waste. However, not all the e-waste is collected, and a portion of the e-waste stream is disposed of in landfills. The collected materials are sent for recycling, and the high-value components such as metals and high-value plastics are fed back to the manufacturing stream, whereas low-value materials are disposed of in landfills.

The primary focus of any country or organization should be the collection and recycling of e-waste. However, not all the e-waste is collected, and a portion of the e-waste stream is disposed of in landfills. The collected materials are sent for recycling, and the high-value components such as metals and high-value plastics are fed back to the manufacturing stream, whereas low-value materials are disposed of in landfills. The e-waste collection volume must be increased to boost the circular economy in any part of the world, and the waste stream after the recycling process has to be studied simultaneously for its potential recovery and usage so that the fractions to be disposed of are minimized.

E-waste recycling decreases the amount of extracted raw materials from ores and solid waste inadequate disposal. The recycling routes must also be technically and economically feasible. Given the added value of precious metals and critical metals found in the majority of e-waste, such requirements are not difficult to be fulfilled. Baldé et al. (2017) estimated the amount of various elements and materials present in e-waste. It showed that the total contained/potential value of selected metal and materials present in e-waste was US$ 57 billion in 2019 (Forti et al. 2020). Figure 1.2 shows a breakdown of the various metals and materials present in e-waste with their total amount and estimated values. It should be noted that the estimated value depicted in Figure 1.2 represents an ideal-case scenario of 100% collection and metal recovery and without accounting for costs associated with collection and recycling. It indicates the economic opportunity for e-waste recycling.

Figure...