Nasty, Dirty, Yucky... And in Demand
A global building boom is driving up metal prices, turning trash into treasure.
BY Fast Company Staff | July 1, 2006
Related Stories
- Aluminum buried in landfills per year: 6 million tons
- Computers disposed of in the United States per year: 50 million
- Cell phones thrown away in Japan by 2010: 610 million
- Electronic Waste worldwide per year: 20 to 50 million tons
- Recent value of 1kg of gold recovered from 5 tons of electronic waste: $22,000
Megacities
- In 1950: 8
- In 2001: 41
- In 2010: 59
Metal Prices Are Skyrocketing
| Metal |
Price in 2003 |
Price in 2006 |
| Aluminum (ton) |
$1,431 |
$2,621 |
| Copper (ton) |
$1,779 |
$6,388 |
| Gold (ounce) |
$363.5 |
$670.7 |
| Lead (kg) |
$0.515 |
$1.170 |
| Silver (ounce) |
$4.911 |
$12.632 |
| Zinc (kg) |
$0.828 |
$3.095 |
From Issue 107 | July 2006
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