A S$20m research centre which aims to develop greener ways of recycling electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) was launched by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
The centre focusing solely on e-waste recycling is believed to be a world-first. Among its goals: To extract substantially more valuable metals from lithium-ion batteries and to recycle silicon from solar panels.
The centre, called the NTU Singapore-CEA Alliance for Research in Circular Economy, also wants to make the process of recycling printed circuit boards cheaper and more environmentally friendly, and to detoxify more plastic parts in e-waste, given that plastics form a major part of devices like printers and flat screens.