Precious metals in landfill sites?

Question

Due to our past habit of burying all our rubbish including electronic kit, there must be a lot of minerals/metals in landfill sites. Are the amounts worth mining? Do they compare with the tons of rock that needs shifting to get at gold or other precious metals. Would it be worth buying up old landfill sites for when the supply of gold or our metals run out?

Answer 1

landfill mining has been an option for sometime now as the costs of mining & refining increases due to the depletion of finite raw resources

especially for energy intensive metals like aluminium see http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/07/theres_gold_in_1.php
http://www.enviroalternatives.com/landfill.html

but you are probably too late to buy them up. Most councils already have long term contaracts, 30+years with the big waste handling companies - and they expect to make a lot of money

Answer 2

Well my partner works as a Chemist for a chemical waste disposal company. he certainly knows a great deal about landfill sites.

he would say that most landfill sites are toxic with all the different amounts of rubbish and gases all mixing together. So there would be nothing worthwhile salvaging at landfill sites.

Most of the good parts will have already been stripped clean by the waste companies.

If you bought up landfill sites, you would be at risk of killing yourself and whoever is with you.

It's a nice idea, but there is just so much toxic and poisonous chemicals in the sites, that we can't even build on those sites.

Answer 3

I hope our landfills will become archeological sites, we will find out the mysteries of life not through great decorated pottery like the Greeks but tropicana orange juice containers, and mounds of jello pudding cups, and a billion plastic shopping bags and dirty diapers. We will be laughed at for all eternity!

Answer 4

I suspect it would be quite costly to disentangle the different elements. All recycled material goes through a filter system of humans who basically scavenge through the mess. Imagine going through household waste. All the population do not engage in sorting out the rubbish into the correct bin so you would be faced with all manner of manky waste.

Answer 5

Don't know about land fill sites, but an incinerator that I lived near once claimed to extract worthwhile quantities of gold from the ash.

Answer 6

Its a good point. Don't think I would like to go through the rotting nappies etc to find it though! Yuk! I may regret those words if I find out you have become a multi millionaire doing just that! Good luck if you do! lol

Answer 7

Not for me.