Robert Frost was one of the greatest American poets and one of his most famous works was ‘‘Nothing Gold Can Stay” which opens with the much quoted line; “Natures first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold”.
The reason for this poetic opening to a blog is that fact the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee have started an initiative to produce the 5,000 Gold, Silver and Bronze Olympic medals awarded to Olympians and Paralympians entirely from retrieved electronic waste (e-waste). The Committee have in fact invited all the citizens of Japan to donate their old mobile phones and other forgotten electronic gadgets to participate in this green and creative idea.
Tragically, only 20% of discarded e-waste is ever recycled and this highly toxic material is the fastest growing part of the planets domestic waste stream. Our growing addiction and need for electronics risks drowning our environment with discarded devices. The United Nations believes that the world generated circa 45 million tons of e-waste in 2016 with that number growing 4% annually. By the year 2021 the volume could be in excess of 52 million tons. Sadly, most of this waste never reaches collection centers and is dumped in landfills, abandoned by roadsides or left forgotten in the bottom of drawers. If the “dumped” toxic material is not treated properly it ultimately pollutes the soil and water creating a far more damaging ecological issue. It’s far better for the planet to recycle old phones and electronic products to retrieve the gold and other precious metals rather than mine for new raw materials. One can get up to 4 grams of gold for each ton of mined ore, but one ton of mobile phones can yield up to 350g!
Environmental sustainability is a cause which ON Semiconductor is passionate about and we are committed to lessen corporate impact on the natural environment. We are dedicated to the continued expansion and improvement of worldwide initiatives to reduce energy consumption by 5%, water consumption by 5% and our overall carbon footprint by 5%. Our worldwide manufacturing operations have a well-established recycling and waste minimization program in place reducing water, electricity and chemical use amongst various other green initiatives. In 2016 we processed, sorted and sold for reuse nearly 1,072 metric tons of scrap materials and 877 kilograms of precious metals.
Gold reclamation is just one of the many ways we can be green and recycling is something we should all passionately embrace and by doing so we can let nature continue to hold her hue.
To learn more visit our Corporate Social Responsibility page or read about recent sustainability projects in our blog “Sustainability in Action at ON Semiconductor”.
