Where would we be without our electronics? Mobile phones. Laptops. Tablets. Gaming systems. It is impossible to walk around campus without seeing how our devices connect us and the shared University of Kentucky experience.
But when Jack Groppo sees those devices, he sees something else. He sees a unique Kentucky opportunity.
Groppo, a University of Kentucky Mining Engineering Professor and a researcher at the Center for Applied Energy Research, is spearheading an effort to turn domestic electronics waste into a Kentucky industry. He, along with fellow Mining Engineering faculty member Josh Werner, is building an electronics recycling program at UK that will educate, train, and conduct research in a field that they believe holds great promise for the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technicians.
There is not a true electronics recycling industry in America right now. Those who are trying to recycle their devices drop their mobile phones, laptops, and computers at an electronics store or recycling center. They are then shipped to a disassembly site where batteries and metal-rich components are removed for further upgrading, almost all of which occurs offshore.
Jack Groppo, UK MINING ENGINEERING PROFESSOR, AND RESEARCHER AT UK CENTER FOR APPLIED ENERGY RESEARCH
This UK program is trying to change that. And better yet, it is student-led. UK students collect personal items such as old phones, tablets, power supplies, cables, etc. from UK students, faculty and staff. The project is the first of its kind to sustainably and ethically recover valuable and critical materials.Recovery and sorting will be carried out as a service project by UK Mining Engineering students.
The next time you look down at your device, remember the words of President John F. Kennedy. Ask not what your phone can do for you, ask what your phone can do for Kentucky. Or something like that.
If you knew that recycling your personal devices can help build a Kentucky industry, would you be more likely to do so? What old devices do you have sitting around you’d like to recycle? Tell us below!