Phuc Labs Brings E-Waste Recycling to the Next Level

A Gold Mine in the Trash

I’ve had my cell phone for five years. I know that is unusually long, and it shows. My phone’s performance gets worse every day. Most people change their phones every year or two to avoid that.

I get it, but I can’t help feeling concerned about the negative environmental impact of regularly changing smartphones, laptops, and other electronic devices. These devices use rare metals to function, like gold, palladium, copper, and silver. Unfortunately, obtaining these rare metals is very polluting. The process causes deforestation, erosion, and water contamination. And at the end of an electronic device’s life, it ends up as e-waste in a landfill, where it releases toxins that leach into the environment.

I hate thinking about that. Humans produced 53.6 million tons of e-waste in 2019 and will produce 74.7 million tons yearly by 2030. So I try to keep a good conscience by not overconsuming electronics. But my good deeds will not change the rare metals supply chain.

Hopefully, seeing the glass half empty or half full is a matter of choice — and startup innovation might help it look fuller. E-waste is actually a gold mine of opportunity. As you might know, extracting these metals from the planet is costly. And like anything rare, they have a high value on the market. The price of gold reached new highs in 2022, the price of copper is in its highest range, and palladium is twice more expensive now than in 2018.

If the e-waste from electronics — which includes those precious metals — could be sorted and recycled, it would provide a lot of value. That’s why I’m excited to introduce Phuc Labs to you. This startup has new technology that can get the most out of e-waste.

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