Hi-Tech waste as “Urban Mines” of precious metals: new sustainable recovery methods

Abstract

Precious metals (PMs) are valuable components of Hi-Tech goods such as electrical and electronic equipment, catalysts, advanced materials. These relatively recent applications and the growth of their market due to the fast technological development, heavily contribute to the high rate of element consumption and Hi-Tech waste accumulation of the modern consumer society. Looking at these wastes with new eyes, encouraged by the recent world-wide regulations aimed to the sustainable waste management and raw materials preservation, we can appreciate the value contained in and turn them in secondary resources of raw materials. In this context, a sustainable approach in PMs recovery from Hi-Tech waste, built on green chemistry principles and addressed to find a ready technological transfer, is described here.