Old Gadgets May Have Turned Japan into Resource-Rich Nation

Japan’s lack of natural resources was particularly amazing during the 90s, when the country was pegged as the newest economic superpower. Two decades later, Japan’s financial system isn’t what it used to be, but that hasn’t changed its population’s propensity to gadgets, throwing out the old to buy the new. Why is this important? Turns out all that technological garbage may have finally given the country a stockpile of precious metals.

According to new calculations by the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Tsukuba, Japan has unwittingly accumulated three times as much gold, silver and indium than the entire world uses or buys in a year. In the case of platinum, Japan’s urban mines may contain six times annual global consumption.

As any discerning gadget geek knows, the electrical components of gadgets—even those that came out in the 80s—are full of these materials. And Japan is in an advantageous, since it apparently does a good job of assessing just what exactly is in its dumps.

The only question remaining is how to properly extract these valuable commodities from all that garbage, and perhaps, what to do with practically useless and non-biodegradable materials like plastic.

Perhaps while they’re working on this, the Japanese could also implement more effective recycling programs, securing all that potential wealth before it becomes part of a filthy pile. That’s exactly what Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry is pushing for, going straight to people’s homes. (timesonline.co.uk)