城市采礦工廠能夠破解全球電子垃圾泛濫難題嗎？

????不過，即使在歐洲，“目前也沒有專門從電子廢料中回收貴金屬的工廠，”她說。

????然而，盡管藍橡樹公司的城市采礦廠“從生態的角度看，或許是我們需要的那種設施，”但這家工廠還需要克服一些關鍵的經濟現實，美國自然資源保護委員會的赫什科維茨說。

????“亟需應對的挑戰是，如何把電子垃圾送往這家工廠，因為目前只有一小部分電子垃圾被有效地回收再利用，”他補充說。“從經濟角度來看，我們需要政府效仿歐洲的做法，強制要求電子消費類公司出資建造用來回收利用或翻新這些材料的基礎設施。”

????在起初階段，藍橡樹公司將依靠已經開始收集和拆解電子垃圾的供應商，但布拉多說，“我們希望在這個價值鏈中創造更多價值，以推動前端的回收利用。”

????她指出，作為一個鼓舞人心的典范，汽車行業的再循環比率目前已達到95%左右。“這是因為價值鏈的每個部分都有回收價值，”她說。“整個行業都在專心致志地確保資源能夠回收利用。”

????作為另一種選擇，就像押金退款制度已經被成功地用于鼓勵容器回收一樣，她說，電子產品或許也可以應用類似方案。

????無論采取哪種方式，布拉多解釋說，“我們都希望整個價值鏈迅速增長，希望創建一個生態系統，以支持從電子產品中回收利用盡可能多的價值。這樣一來，我們就不再把它看成一個廢物流。”

????“我們需要看到真正的領導力”

????像藍橡樹公司城市采礦廠這類方式“有望成為電子垃圾解決方案的重要組成部分，它們能夠回收嵌入電子設備的材料，從而減少對原生材料和生產這些材料所需能源的需求，”綠色和平組織(Greenpeace)資深IT分析師加里?庫克說。

????庫克表示，綠色和平組織還希望看到電子行業采取更有力的措施，比如更完善的回收計劃，承諾使用再生材料生產電子產品。

????但這些努力必須由最高層率先推動。庫克說，“我們還需要看到電子產品制造商展現出真正的領導力，需要它們設計、制造擁有更長生命周期的產品。” 他還援引了模塊化手機制造商 Phonebloks和 Project Ara的例子。“它們不能繼續設計一些使用兩三年就不得不廢棄的產品。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：葉寒

????Even there, though, “there are no facilities we’re aware of that are dedicated to recovering precious metals from electronic scrap,” she said.

????Yet while BlueOak’s urban mining refinery may be “exactly the kind of facility that we need from an ecological perspective,” some key economic realities will have to be overcome, NRDC’s Hershkowitz said.

????“The challenge here is going to be getting the electronic waste to the facility, because right now only a fraction of electronic waste is effectively recovered for recycling,” he added. “From an economic perspective, we need government requirements, as they have in Europe, that obligate the consumer products companies to participate in funding the infrastructure to recover these materials for recycling or refurbishment.”

????Initially, BlueOak will rely on suppliers that are already collecting and dismantling e-waste, but “our hope is that by creating more value in that value chain, that will promote the front-end recycling,” Bradoo said.

????The automotive industry is an inspiring model, she noted, with a recycling rate of about 95%. “That’s because you have value recovery from every part of that value chain,” she said. “An entire industry has focused on ensuring that there’s recycling.”

????Alternatively, much the way deposit-refund systems have been used successfully to encourage container recycling, it’s possible a similar scheme could be applied to electronics, she said.

????Either way, “we want the entire value chain to grow and to create an ecosystem that supports the overall recycling and recovery of as much value as possible from electronics so we don’t think of it as a waste stream,” Bradoo explained.

????‘We need to see real leadership’

????Approaches like BlueOak’s urban mining refinery “have the potential to be an important part of the solution, to recycle the materials embedded in these devices, reducing the demand for virgin materials and the energy needed to produce them,” said Gary Cook, a senior IT analyst with Greenpeace.

????Greenpeace also wants to see more robust efforts from the electronics sector, Cook said, such as stronger take-back programs and a commitment to using recycled materials in electronics products.

????But it starts at the top. “What we also need to see is real leadership from electronics manufacturers in creating products that are designed to have a longer life,” Cook said, citing the example of modular mobile phones such as Phonebloks and Project Ara, “and not designed for the dump in two to three years.”