Researchers at the University of South Australia are exploring ways to reclaim those materials and have turned to the mining industry for the know-how.
As technology changes, old TVs are sometimes dumped once they reach their use-by date.
But Dr JC Tan of UniSA said it was perhaps less evident what happened to whitegoods and other electronic devices when they were sent to recycling depots.
“Currently in Australia there’s no one doing 100 per cent recycling,” he said.
He said scientists at the university were developing what they called ‘urban mining’.
“[It is] a process of reclaiming resources from all this electronic waste. We are talking about the reuse and [increasing] the recycling value of this e-waste,” he said.
Source: ABC.net.au
By Matthew Doran