Dive Brief:
- Attero, an e-waste company, is trying to turn the industry upside-down with a new technology that extracts metals using small, modular refineries.
- The mini-refineries eliminate the need to ship electronic waste across the globe.
- Attero collects electronic waste, refurbishes when possible and extracts metals such as gold, silver and copper from the rest, which are then sold to electronics manufacturing companies. The process is called "urban mining."
Dive Insight:
Growing environmental trends are causing companies to rethink traditional industry standards. Urban mining uses 91% less energy than mining from the earth.
Mike Enberg, the eStewards Enterprise Director at the Basel Action Network said, "Attero appears to have terrific and unique technology that allows for gleaning of precious metals, while also needing less space and less capital investment. They may be primed to offer disruptive technology,"