Most consumers probably don’t realize that 99.99 percent pure gold, silver and copper can be extracted from their discarded electronic gadgets.
Metals extracted from computer parts and other electronic devices are used as raw materials for reuse by the nation’s chipmakers and computer manufacturers — a cycle that minimizes the hazardous impact from electronic and industrial waste that is buried underground or incinerated, producing toxic fumes.
Despite the unglamorous image of the junk business, the nation’s waste management and recycling sector has over the past decade grown to be as lucrative and tech-savvy as the local information technology (IT) industry.
In addition, the environmentally friendly recycling sector has proven to be highly recession-proof against the backdrop of the global economic downturn that has dragged down local IT exporters’ overseas shipments.
As one of the leading companies in the sector, Taoyuan-based Super Dragon Technology Co (佳龍科技), which was established in 1996 and later took over its parent firm, Chang Pwu Industrial Co (昌蒲實業), looks beyond the profit it makes from its precious metals recycling businesses.
“If we were to stop using recycled products now, we might end up running out of natural resources in just a few years,” Super Dragon chairman and founder Wu Yao-hsun (吳耀勳), 58, said in a recent interview with the Taipei Times.
Wu, who in his late 20s started out as a gold processor for domestic jewelers, has shown an aptitude for finding diamonds in the rough.
In 1984, for example, Wu acquired four obsolete radar devices that had been used by NASA’s space shuttles for around NT$100,000 (US$3,040), out of which he recovered 600kg of silver worth NT$12.8 million.
But he barely broke even when he later decided to tap into the precious metals recycling business and swept up 4,000 tonnes of waste of all kinds along the coast of Guanyin (觀音), Taoyuan County, out of a sense of social responsibility.
“Even so, I still feel fortunate to have been able to make a contribution to society, because all that waste, if it had been allowed to sink into the sea, could have poisoned the fish we eat today,” he said.
Wu said he had been so devoted to improving the company’s competitiveness by refining the chemical extraction process that he was at one point diagnosed with nasopharyngeal carcinoma as a result of his frequent direct exposure to chemical solutions.
Today, Super Dragon boasts a monthly output of between 300kg and 500kg of gold, in addition to other metals, with a recycling capacity of 95 percent.
The company’s revenue grew 20.7 percent year-on-year to a record NT$4.35 billion last year, 85 percent of which was derived from the extraction of industrial waste or flawed products shipped directly from some of the nation’s largest electronic companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電). Another 5 percent is derived from obsolete desktop and notebook computers collected from individuals, said 35-year-old company president Ken Wu (吳界欣), the founder’s son.
Although Wu Yao-hsun vowed to boost sales past NT$5 billion this year, company revenues dropped 11.8 percent year-on-year in the first half to NT$1.91 billion.
The company is expected to start construction of its third plant in Taoyuan’s Environmental Protection Park, also in Guanyin township, with an initial investment of NT$1 billion. The facility is scheduled to be completed in October.
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