When recycling increases the CO2 footprint

Gold mining is extremely resource- and energy-intensive, while at the same time the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is growing rapidly worldwide. WEEE contains highly concentrated gold deposits and thus offers great potential for urban mining and the implementation of the circular economy. Industrially, pyrometallurgical processing in copper smelters dominates, in which plastics in the material serve as an energy carrier. This technique is well established, but causes significant fossil CO₂ emissions, making it difficult to decarbonize. This results in a conflict of goals between increasing recycling rates and climate protection. The study "Climate change vs. circular economy: Challenges of the most common route for recycling gold from WEEE" by German scientists uses a life cycle analysis to analyse the climate balance of this recycling route and examines scenarios for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to identify technological and systemic solutions. The study was published in "Sustainability".