Like many Chinese millennials, 24-year-old Lin Chenru likes to upgrade his mobile phone every couple of years – just don’t ask him where his old devices are.
As more Chinese consumers adopt new and better devices every year, the result is a huge build up of so-called electronic garbage in old handsets that could be extracted for professional recycling, including metals such as copper and gold. TES China marketing director Richard Wang explained the process, which starts by using chemical treatments to dissolve and refine any precious metals, such as gold, that are on the circuit boards. The next step is to crush the circuit boards into powder and separate the copper and plastic.
The Shanghai plant has now teamed up with Huawei Technologies Co, the Chinese telecoms giant that has seen its smartphone business take a big hit from US trade restrictions.