SCHEME: Trading of Electronic Waste Items in exchange for Internet Service Plans. These must be collected for recycling in a public place for regular attraction and response, such as parks. These parks must also be maintained using vegetable waste intended for reforesting and production of oxygen gas to compensate for harmful release from e-waste.
PROBLEM: E-waste is among the fastest-growing solid waste classes and represents a serious hazard for the environment. It consists of a mixture of hazardous inorganic and organic materials, for example, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, and brominated flame retardants, along with valuable metals, such as Au, Ag, and Pd. Direct e-waste disposal to landfills without any prior treatment creates threats to the environment due to the leaching of metals in water and soil. Improper e-waste recycling, such as by open burning and acid baths, creates hazardous and toxic compounds, like dioxins, furans, and acids.
SOLUTION: E-waste contains many valuable, recoverable materials such as aluminum, ferrous metals, copper, gold, and silver. To conserve natural resources and the energy needed to produce new electronic equipment from virgin resources, electronic equipment should be refurbished, reused, and recycled whenever possible. These can be recovered by introducing enzymes, similar to those used in metallurgy for the mining of metals. After recovery, the leftovers can be recycled to oil via pyrolysis.