A New Zealand Startup Is Using Microbes to Suck Solid Gold Out of E-Waste
Microscopic organisms can extract precious metals from discarded devices
The world produces 50 million tons of e-waste each year — equivalent to 4,500 Eiffel Towers or 125,000 jumbo jets — from old computers, discarded screens, broken smartphones, and damaged tablets. E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world, but it also holds metals crucial to tech that could soon become short in supply.
As our reliance on tech increases, there’s a growing need to reduce e-waste while conserving metals vital to building tech products. The solution may lie in the tiniest of organisms: microbes. These microscopic life forms can extract metals such as cobalt, gold, and platinum from the devices we toss into landfills.
“Microbes can facilitate some processes that would otherwise require high temperatures and other extreme conditions,” says Anna Kaksonen, who leads the Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology Group of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national science research agency. “In some cases, they provide a more sustainable alternative than traditional pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical processes.”
