Brittien Rahapaja collects gold from e-waste

Use it the increase in value has woken up households. For example, old jewelry has been searched for at the bottom of boxes.

Looking at them, we have thought about whether it would be worthwhile to sell off the gold that is not used.

Now also the Royal Mint of England, Royal Minthas awakened to the collection and recycling of gold.

The mint has established a facility that collects electronic circuit boards, they say News pages of the British Broadcasting Corporation BBC. The facility is located in South Wales.

Historically, the main job of the Mint is to mint coins for the use of the United Kingdom, but collecting gold is also related to money.

The mint plans to make, for example, commemorative coins from gold. Gold also goes into jewelry.

In electronic there are small amounts of gold in the waste. Separating it from other waste has not paid off. It’s not exactly easy.

There is gold in various devices, from old mobile phones and computers to televisions. Often they have circuit boards.

In electronics circuit boards, gold is used when reliability and efficiency are desired from the material. In addition, gold conducts electricity well.

Mint plans to process 4,000 tons of e-waste per year, tells the BBC John Leighton. He is the director of the Royal Mint.

About 450 kilos of gold should be extracted from that amount. Its current value is approximately 27 million pounds, i.e. more than 31 million euros.

Gold does not come off the devices easily. The Mint uses a new method here.

First, the circuit board is heated. In this way, the different parts come apart more easily than usual.

Transistors, solders, capacitors and other parts are assembled on a belt, where they are sorted according to the gold content of the part.

The gold parts are picked up and taken to a nearby chemical plant in Wales.

At the factory, the gold is poured into a chemical solution. When the solution is filtered in a certain way, a powder remains.

It’s pure gold. When the powder is heated in the oven, it becomes sparkling.

Mint is in this job about recycling. Electronic waste, or e-waste, has become a problem in the world, and it is still growing.

The United Nations ie According to the UN, in 2022 62 million tons of e-waste were produced worldwide.

The amount of discarded electronics is expected to increase by about a third by 2030.

The Royal Mint has no problem collecting e-waste. According to statistics, Britain produces the second most e-waste or technological waste in the world after Norway in proportion to the population.

Royal For hundreds of years, the mint has produced the coins that Britons use in their everyday lives.

However, the use of cash is decreasing everywhere, including in Britain. For the state-run company, sifting gold from waste is one way to make money.