IN-PERSON London. Section B
Abstract
Urban societies create prolific waste streams—75% of the world’s waste is generated from urban areas while less than 9% of all produced goods are recycled (Statista, 2022). The vast accumulation of municipal waste will increase due to the rise in urbanization of societies worldwide in the decades to come. Some of these waste streams contain significant value, for example electronic waste (E-waste) has been shown to contain gold and copper grades that exceed close to 100 times the grades of these metals in many operating mines while it is the fastest growing urban waste. Global E-waste generation has a strong correlation with the GDP and 75% of these electronics are found in the urban areas where most of the industries are located while supply chain of electronics needs to be significantly curtailed. Processing outside of urban areas coupled with associated transportation and E-waste transboundary movement are contributing to the significant social and environmental impacts. These are just some factors that could provide us with the opportunities to develop local urban industries to recover value from various municipal waste streams. Turning some of these wastes into opportunities for the recovery of valuable and critical materials, particularly those in demand metals provides significant incentives for creating a “circular economy for electronics around the urban areas.” In this paper we will explore opportunities and challenges of creating circularity in electronics in urban societies to promote sustainability and to provide resiliency to the urban centers while creating well paid jobs in high-tech industries.
Maria Holuszko – Associate Professor postion at University of Britihs Columbia, Mining Engineering department since 2014. Maria has more than 30 years of experience in Mineral Processing with her research focusing on recovery of critical minerals and materials characterization. Since 2015 she has been involved in research developing sustainable solutions for e-waste recycling. Her research on recycling has been recognized worldwide and attracted reputable media attention; BBC Future, Radio Canada International, etc. In 2022 she published book entitled “Elcetronic Waste: recycling for sustainable future”.
Dr. Nani Pajunen is a leading specialist in the Sustainability solutions at SITRA (Finnish Innovation Fund) in Finland. In her work, Dr. Pajunen looks for solutions to how the world economy can be transferred into circular economy. Dr. Pajunen has worked in industry, as a consultant and she has run research and development projects involving co-operation between companies and universities. She holds a Master of Science degree in civil engineering and a licentiate of science in technology in the field of environmental law. Dr Pajunen’s doctoral dissertation was on the transition of industry towards a circular economy, with a focus on new business opportunities and the points of view of investors and owners. She is world renowned scientist in the filed of circular economy.
9:00 am - 10:30 am
Thursday 27th June, 2024