Scientists say that boosting e-waste recycling is vital because mining valuable metals from the Earth to produce new gadgets is unsustainable. According to one estimate, in 2021 alone, the global pile of abandoned devices weighed 57 million tonnes. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) believes that instead of mining the Earth, a global effort is now required to collect that waste. Global wars can affect precious metal supply chains. The RSC is undertaking a campaign to raise awareness about how unsustainable mining all of the precious metals used in consumer electronics is. Between 2021 and 2022, the price of lithium, another crucial component in battery technology, increased by nearly 500% due to rising demand. Some essential components are rapidly diminishing. “Our tech consumption habits remain highly unsustainable and have left us at risk of exhausting the raw elements we need,” said Prof. Tom Welton, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, adding that those habits were “continuing to exacerbate environmental damage”.