Column: A different view - Green, green, green are all my clothes [1]

Von Fallersleben published this children's song even before politicians took up the cause of a green environment. Today, however, the hunter as a treasure would again meet with criticism, at least from some vegans, as he also shoots the beloved stray cats and dogs and not only provides wild boar ham.

Song collection 'Schlesische Volkslieder' (1842) collected from the mouths of the people. In one song, a lady in love sings of green as the dress color of her sweetheart - a hunter- and the rapid succession of cell phones and other electronic devices has resulted in an ever-growing pile of scrap metal in the various drawers of plagued consumers, who apparently do not react entirely 'green'.

Since everything that is produced has a finite life expectancy and the affluent society hardly repairs anything any more - with the industry lending a helping hand and designing the devices in such a way as to make repair almost impossible - more and more is accumulating in households and collection points.

Whether the claims of marketing specialists that customers always demand 'the latest and greatest gadget' or whether these desires are being awakened in the smallest of people in the most sophisticated way is something we don't even want to fathom. Hardly anyone needs the full range and all the possibilities of a laptop or a mobile phone to occasionally retrieve a few recipes from the Internet.

According to research at Harvard University [2], it also seems that some companies deliberately design their software in such a way that the customer is practically encouraged to buy a new device as soon as the new wonder weapon on the market has been announced with much fanfare.

The social pressure that ostracizes a child in elementary school for wearing the 'wrong' sneakers or jeans with the cheap number is also spreading to other areas, so that the size of the screen is equated with the owner's reputation or even their intelligence. Even the cheap version of a barbecue in the garden is enough to terrify friends and visitors.

What applies to cell phones also applies to other electronic goods. A total of 2 million tons of electronic waste is produced every year in Germany alone, which causes a lot of headaches, because if you know what all goes into these assemblies, the disposal and hopefully reuse of expensive minerals is not easy. The future outlook is even more frightening according to forecasting gurus: over the next four years, development is predicted to grow at a rate of 33%, resulting in more than 1 billion tons of 'e-waste' by 2030, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This means that around 80-85% will not end up in processing plants, but will be incinerated or 'disposed of' in landfill sites. It is doubtful whether this is good for the environment.

There are two sides to the equation here. On the one hand, rare minerals and substances are used in the (often unnecessary) products, and on the other hand, their value and toxicity must be taken into account when disposing of them.

The collection of electronic waste is generally well organized in Western countries. However, recycling is still a headache. These electronic instruments and devices are complicated and consist of a variety of parts, ranging from the various plastics, batteries and metal frames to the assemblies. They contain precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum as well as copper, iron and aluminum, the production of which has already consumed a lot of energy. Low-cost recovery would be desirable.

On the other hand, we have known since RoHS at the latest that potentially hazardous elements are also present: In addition to lead and cadmium, which are 'banned' in some countries, beryllium [5] and other not entirely harmless chemicals are found in scrap, which should at least suggest for once that workers handling this waste should protect themselves.

As much of this scrap is exported - costs in most parts of Europe are simply too high to carry out such work - the waste either ends up uncontrolled in dumps or is sorted, dismantled and then melted down under very questionable circumstances. At least some of the valuable materials, such as cable sheathing, are lost in the process. Obviously, labor costs usually go hand in hand with inadequate protection for the workers.

Nevertheless, dismantling by hand allows certain parts to be reused. As some components are no longer manufactured but are still in demand by the military, for example, old processors can yield far more than their material value.

Plants such as NADIN [6] in Novi Iskar, Bulgaria, automate much of this work. In such plants, everything is still shredded and sorted automatically, but at least toxic gases and other questionable waste are not released into the environment. The coin-sized pieces are then recycled: Weapons, glass, batteries. Precious metals go to metal smelters.

Of course, research is also being carried out in this area. Technicians at Rice University and the Indian Institute of Science, for example, are pursuing an idea that sounds exceptionally modern: Nanodust.

In his series of experiments [7], Dr. Chandra Sekhar Tiwary, who conducts research in both the USA and India, cooled assemblies to 154 K using argon and nitrogen and then crushed them into dust. Instead of using heat, which causes materials to mix easily, the team uses cold, which counteracts mixing and embrittles materials. The materials crushed into particles of 20-100 nm in size are largely homogeneous and can then be sorted relatively easily and cost-effectively using precipitation methods.

Losses with this method are very low and all materials can be reused. In addition, the method is far cheaper than the traditional methods of incineration and high-temperature melting. Whether cooling is cheaper than heating should be recalculated.

The scientists see the next step as developing the process from laboratory dimensions to production level.

Automated sorting plant in Novi Iskar, Bulgaria

References

[1] German folk song of the 19th century. The text was published in 1842 in the collection 'Schlesische Volkslieder' by Ernst Richter and Hoffmann von Fallersleben.
[2] www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2709502/Does-Apple-deliberately-slow-old-models-new-release-Searches-iPhone-slow-spike-ahead-launches.html (Retrieved: 10.08.2025).
[3] www.statista.com/infografik/13203/anzahl-alt-handys-in-deutschen-haushalten/ (Retrieved: 10.08.2025).
[4] www.statista.com/chart/2514/iphone-releases/ (Retrieved: 10.08.2025).
[5] www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/diseases/beryllium.html (Retrieved: 10.08.2025).
[6] https://nadin.bg/ (Retrieved: 10.08.2025).
[7] C. S. Tiwary, P. A. K. Chattopadhyay & D. P. Mahapatra, 'Electronic Waste Recycling via Cryo-milling and Nanoparticle Beneficiation'; Materials Today. Online: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369702116303972 (Retrieved: 10.08.2025).