Dowa to Recycle Mobile Phones
Dowa-Eco is planning to import used mobile phones from Southeast Asia to extract nonferrous metals such as gold and copper from them for recycling, according to the Daily Yomiuri. The Dowa group has the only smelter in Asia capable of extracting individual metals from ores such as copper, gold and lead which are needed for making substrates used in mobile phones.
The plan will be a joint project with the Geneva-based Secretariat of the Basel Convention, which is aimed at controlling transfers of hazardous waste between nation. It plans to secure nonferrous metals, for which demand has been growing, and contribute to establishing an international system to prevent inadequate disposal of harmful substances.
In Southeast Asia, however, used cell phones are transported to China for recycling, where only precious metals are extracted in many cases. Dowa, which will first collect used mobile phones from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, has begun looking into methods with the secretariat on how to collect such phones and how many can be imported.