Flannery calls for minimum recycled goods level

Professor Tim Flannery has reminded gadget-lovers that their desire to update is contributing to an increase in greenhouse gases, and called on Governments to legislate for a minimum percentage of materials to come from recycled goods.

Flannery told Gizmodo that recycling electronics and increasing renewable energy levels will significantly reduce the impact of manufacturing.

“[Recycling electronics] is harder, but it’s also the case that the products are also much more high value. I think that as rare earths and so forth become more limited, and metal prices and commodity prices go up, the incentive for that sort of recycling is only going to increase,” Flannery said.

“But it can be helped by government mandating that a percentage of materials has to be from recycled materials and so forth, so you can have a legislative framework as well to assist with that.”