Bioleaching

Bioleaching

Sustainability is at the heart of our business practices and we are continually looking at ways to develop our skills and expertise in this area.

We are working in partnership with Lancaster University to develop a sustainable electronic waste solution using bioleaching.

Bioleaching is a technique that makes use of bacteria to extract metals from metal ores.

The ultimate goal is to extract precious metals such as copper from disused printed circuit boards, which can then be sold back into the marketplace.

If scalable, this will improve sustainable IT disposal and decrease the need for mining.

Bioleaching is far less environmentally harmful and energy-intensive than other ways to extract metals from electronic waste.

It also produces no air pollution, unlike other extraction methods such as smelting and incineration, which result in significant greenhouse gas emissions.