E-waste recycling matter of national security: Report

PARIS: Recovering precious elements from e-waste is a security imperative for Europe that should be written into law, according to a report Monday that said it was “crucial” to ensure industry competitiveness and sustain techdependent lifestyles in the region. Circuit boards, magnets in disk drives and electric vehicles, batteries and fluorescent lamps are among items containing critical raw materials - including gold, silver and cobalt - that could be recycled and reused, the research found.

This would safeguard supplies for consumer electronics and even the defense industry, said the consortium behind the European Union funded CEWASTE report, which said the fate of these materials was a “societal challenge”. Despite these essential materials being vulnerable to geopolitical upheavals, it said, Europe remains too reliant on foreign supply, with recycling rates “close to zero”.

“We’ve been recycling for centuries, it’s one of the oldest professions,” said Pascal Leroy, from the WEEE Forum, one of the authors of the report. “What makes this era different from previous eras is that we need the critical raw materials to make products that sustain our high tech lifestyle,” he said.

With these elements needed for wind turbines and electric cars, they also play a crucial role in meeting climate goals and manufacturing competitiveness. But Leroy said Europe’s supply chain had become “too vulnerable”. He told AFP the defense industry was particularly exposed, with everything from computer systems to drones reliant on external supplies such as rare earth elements, which almost exclusively come from China.