NewsBits

NewsBits

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have developed a process [1] to recover some rare earth metals from scrap magnets. The process, which is the result of several decades of research at Ames Lab, separates rare earth metals from magnets using molten magnesium, which chemically draws out the metals for later recovery. The iron and boron that also make up the magnet can also be sold downstream.

GBI Research is predicting that the volume of electronic waste in East Asia will continue to grow through 2020, despite an import ban in many countries. E-Waste Management Market to 2020 [2] specifically cites the booming consumer electronics industry in the developing world for the generation of domestic e-scrap.

German households have tucked away [3] 20 million old computers in their homes, according the country's Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media. Approximately 30 percent of respondents to a recent survey said they have at least one obsolete desktop or laptop in their home.

The U.K.'s National Physical Laboratory, along with its partners In2Tec Ltd and Gwent Electronic Materials Ltd, has developed a bonding material for printed circuit boards that will dissolve in hot water, leaving the components ready for reuse and recycling, reports www.phys.org [4].

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