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E-Waste and Plastics Recycling Receives Massive Funding Boost
In the second stage following the study, Mint Innovation plans to set up a factory in Auckland, exclusively for extracting valuable metals from electronic waste.
The New Zealand government has announced huge grants to e-waste and plastics recycling industry in the country, in an attempt to put an end to these wastes ending up in landfills. Last month, the U.K. government had announced £61.4m in funding to fight the threats of rising plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
The country’s Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage yesterday announced a grant amounting to NZ$80,000 (US$55,600) from the government’s Waste Minimization Fund. The grant was allotted to Mint Innovation-an Auckland-based company that makes use of chemical and micro-biological techniques to recover valuable metals from electronic waste such as mobile phones and computers.
The Minister stated that the allocation of new grants would help to accelerate its transition to circular economy. The leaching of heavy metals and toxic chemicals from old electronic goods dumped in landfills may likely pollute oil and waterways and also pose threat to human life. Tackling e-waste is one of the key priorities, Sage noted. As per estimates, New Zealanders discard nearly 100,000 tonnes of used electronics every year.
Mint Innovation will use the grant money to launch a feasibility study to determine the technology required to attain higher levels of electronics recycling. In the second stage following the study, Mint Innovation plans to set up a factory in Auckland, exclusively for extracting valuable metals from electronic waste. The factory would be built in collaboration with the technology recycling major Remarkit Solutions.
Last week, Astron Plastics-a plastic recycling company, had received $500,000 funding towards expansion of its Auckland plastics recycling facility. The expansion includes installation of new pre-shredder and extruder. Upon completion of expansion works, Astron will be capable to recycle Type 2 and 4 hard-to-recycle plastics.
Established in 2009, the Waste Minimization Fund is financed by the NZ$10 levy per ton on landfill waste.
