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The point is the symbolic gesture. This doesn't help with any environmental goals.

• CydeWeys 5y ago
  It does, because precious metals mining is environmentally intensive, and by recovering some from trashed electronics instead you're having to do a little bit less mining. It's something like 31 tonnes of ore must be processed per ounce of gold yielded. That's a lot of energy, fuel, caustic chemicals, and polluting mine tailings.
  • BurningFrog 5y ago
    Lots of resources are also used when mining trashed electronics for gold. Which "lots" is worse? I don't know, and neither do you.
    • CydeWeys 5y ago
      No, way less resources are used in electronics recycling than in mining virgin resources. You're making a false equivalence here, or some weird kind of appeal to ignorance. Yes, it's true that some things are unknowable, but not this.
      • BurningFrog 5y ago
        If you have a source that quantifies this, I'd be happy to believe it.