Profitability of recycling of small electronic devices for recovery of critical materials. Case of Russian Federation
Dubov, Oleg (2018)
Diplomityö
2018
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2018052424598
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2018052424598
Tiivistelmä
In the world of the nearest future, many chemical elements with only limited current use will become critical for the emerging industry. Demand for lithium, cobalt, indium, gallium, germanium, tellurium, rare earths and many other materials used for fabrication of electronics, will constantly rise.
“Critical materials” is the term, standing for materials which availability can limit the growth and effectiveness of some vital technologies. Certainly, scraps of electronic devices will in turn become the main sources of CMs.
However, at the moment the issue of electronic scrap collection and effective processing remains unresolved even in developed countries. While big electronic appliances are mostly utilized with the support of extended producer responsibility legislations, small devices are still mainly disposed with residential waste.
The situation could be drastically changed if private competitive small businesses were active in recycling of small devices. In particular, intensive involvement of SMEs is inevitably required by the novel “urban mining” recycling model, which is broadly discussed nowadays in relation to different fractions of wastes. In the “urban mining” business model, it is typically expected that fractions of wastes taken for recycling, can generate enough profits to support business without any subsidies. If these self-supporting operation modes can be achieved, it makes this model particularly interesting for developing countries with their (typically) weak circular economy initiatives.
This Master’s thesis is mainly devoted to unswerving the question, if private businesses, devoted to collection and processing of small obsolete electronic devices in Russia (and, in general, in developing countries), can be profitable without legislation support. Which material streams (CM, precious metals etc.) can generate the biggest share of profit? Which collection and transportation model can provide maximum efficiency?
All these issues were analyzed on the basis of both literature data available and modelling, conducted in accordance with the Technical Cost Modelling approach.
The results show that recycling of small electronic devices is sharply different from recycling of bulk e-wastes. High content of valuable and critical materials can potentially make this business extremely profitable. However, new technological and logistical approaches should be adopted in order to make urban mining business feasible. Especially, the issue of collection of small-scale electronic devices should be solved.
“Critical materials” is the term, standing for materials which availability can limit the growth and effectiveness of some vital technologies. Certainly, scraps of electronic devices will in turn become the main sources of CMs.
However, at the moment the issue of electronic scrap collection and effective processing remains unresolved even in developed countries. While big electronic appliances are mostly utilized with the support of extended producer responsibility legislations, small devices are still mainly disposed with residential waste.
The situation could be drastically changed if private competitive small businesses were active in recycling of small devices. In particular, intensive involvement of SMEs is inevitably required by the novel “urban mining” recycling model, which is broadly discussed nowadays in relation to different fractions of wastes. In the “urban mining” business model, it is typically expected that fractions of wastes taken for recycling, can generate enough profits to support business without any subsidies. If these self-supporting operation modes can be achieved, it makes this model particularly interesting for developing countries with their (typically) weak circular economy initiatives.
This Master’s thesis is mainly devoted to unswerving the question, if private businesses, devoted to collection and processing of small obsolete electronic devices in Russia (and, in general, in developing countries), can be profitable without legislation support. Which material streams (CM, precious metals etc.) can generate the biggest share of profit? Which collection and transportation model can provide maximum efficiency?
All these issues were analyzed on the basis of both literature data available and modelling, conducted in accordance with the Technical Cost Modelling approach.
The results show that recycling of small electronic devices is sharply different from recycling of bulk e-wastes. High content of valuable and critical materials can potentially make this business extremely profitable. However, new technological and logistical approaches should be adopted in order to make urban mining business feasible. Especially, the issue of collection of small-scale electronic devices should be solved.