Q: How did you get into this field?
Moyo: My doctoral research focused on the fundamental science of getting metals, specifically copper, out of primary minerals. Post my Ph.D., I noticed how widely we used the metals. I noticed electronic waste—cellphones, chargers, computers—just lying everywhere. All of it contains metal that is 100% recyclable. I started talking to people about how to recover these metals from discarded electronic items and studying the artisanal, small-scale ways in which this is already happening.
Q: What do you mean by artisanal?
Moyo: In certain places in Africa and in India, people know that cellphones, for example, contain gold and maybe even some platinum coating. You’ll find people burning off the plastic to get to the metal. You’ll find open fire burning, releasing all the toxic elements to the atmosphere and only partially recovering the targeted high-value metals. That’s recovery at the most rudimentary level—but you also find small-scale industries that are feeding into established formal industry supply chains.
Q: Can these efforts be scaled up to create a sustainable e-waste recovery supply chain?
Moyo: Yes and no. Large, established operations gain efficiency from scale, while small-scale recyclers often survive by cherry-picking the highest-value items with the most precious‑metal content. The challenge is to support recyclers in doing this work responsibly, ensuring that any material that doesn’t meet their quality thresholds is passed on to facilities that can handle lower‑grade metal content, and that the remaining e‑waste can find appropriate markets instead of being discarded. Proper sorting and recycling techniques can result in clean, high-quality material that can be reused.
Q: There’s obviously a huge demand for precious metals and minerals?
Moyo: Much of the criticality relates to challenges in the existing supply chain and the essentialness to some of the technologies we have become reliant on, as well as increasing demands in the national security space. A mineral is a finite resource, and when minerals are taken out of the ground, it’s a different story. With copper, for instance, 99% of the rock is waste to be disposed of. But green boards in a computer contain at least 10% to 15% copper. For me, that’s a starting point for resource recovery.
Thandazile Moyo is an assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering at Penn State and a co-funded faculty member in the Materials Research Institute.
