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Gold is definitely not discarded, it's usually recycled out of electronics.


Out of the electronics that are recycled, sure.

Currently thats less than 20% of the electronic waste generated.

    Annual e-waste generation:

    The world generated 53.6 Mt of e-waste in 2019. That's an average of 7.3 kg per capita.

    The amount of e-waste generated is expected to grow at about 3.5% per year and will reach 74.7 Mt by 2030.

    E-waste recycling rate: In 2019 only 17.4% of the e-waste was collected and recycled.
from: https://blog.emew.com/global-e-waste-statistics (unverified by cross check, literally a first hit on search)


Also as far as I'm aware most of the electronics recycling happens in underdeveloped countries, often by literally shoving circuit boards into vats of acid. There's money in e-recycling but it doesn't justify the expenses of doing it in a more sophisticated way than that, especially one that requires paying workers a reasonable wage and maintaining workplace safety requirements.




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