Japanese dumps contain vast amounts of precious metals

It’s time for Japan to start mining garbage, reports the Times:

Japan’s high-tech rubbish dumps – the vast “urban mines” of landfill outside every big city – have grown so huge that the country now ranks among the biggest natural resource nations in the world.

Tens of millions of defunct mobile phones, discarded televisions, PCs and MP3 players conceal a “virtual lode” of hundreds of tonnes of precious metals. An even greater seam may be lurking forgotten – but not yet discarded – in Japan’s attics and garages.

According to new calculations by the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan has unwittingly accumulated three times as much gold, silver and indium than the entire world uses or buys in a year. In the case of platinum, Japan’s urban mines may contain six times annual global consumption.

Researchers are looking into new methods of recycling this valuable junk, including the creation of “artificial ore” factories at garbage dumps.