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Serious question, but how do they intentionally recycle phones/batteries/ ewaste? My first guess would that everything goes through a shredder. Precious metals
by 0cf8612b2e1e 3y ago
Serious question, but how do they intentionally recycle phones/batteries/ ewaste? My first guess would that everything goes through a shredder. Precious metals and plastics are then separated because any kind of disassembly at scale would be infeasible.
- opwieurposiu 3y agoHigh value items are disassembled by robot, like in the case of iPhones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC81peMLEfo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC81peMLEfo Medium value stuff is shredded into a big pile and then they leach the gold off it with cyanide. It has a much higher concentration of gold then raw gold ore. Low value stuff is shipped to poor countries where the copper is extracted by burning and picking through the ash. Very toxic process.