Gold recovery

Our experience in recovering materials from smartphones: learning from the JGI initiative

The important initiative promoted by the Jane Goodall Institute on mobile phone recycling has prompted us to reflect on more direct recovery methods, albeit on a smaller scale.
We decided to experiment with a "DIY" approach to better understand the recycling process. We focused on extracting precious metals, particularly gold (Au), from the circuit boards of some non-functional cell phones donated by our classmates.

Although our "mini-extraction" cannot replace industrial recycling processes, this hands-on experience has allowed us to internalize more deeply the issues raised by the JGI initiative and to expand our scientific knowledge base.