A new campaign run by the Royal Society Of Chemistry (RSC) hopes to draw attention to the unsustainable practice of continuing to mine for the precious materials used in many consumer technology products. One study has estimated that the world’s mountain of discarded electronics, for 2021 alone, weighed 57 million tonnes - more than the entire Great Wall of China.
The RSC warned that some key elements needed to build electronics are now simply running out.
It pointed out that geopolitical unrest, including the war in Ukraine, has caused huge spikes in the price of materials such as nickel, a key element in electric vehicle batteries. In addition, the price of lithium, another important component in battery technology, has increased by almost 500 per cent between 2021 and 2022. This volatility in the market for elements is now causing “chaos in supply chains”.
Professor Tom Welton, president of the RSC, said: “Our tech consumption habits remain highly...