Germans throw away about 24 million mobile phones each year, almost one for every three residents, violating a federal law against electronic waste. Added up, its almost a half-ton of gold that can be melted out of the circuitry of discarded cellphones and computers.

That means the precious-metals refinery that Norddeutsche Affinerie operates in Germany, where Europes largest economy is suffering from its worst recession since World War II, is running at full speed forging gold bars out of the carcasses of German mobile phones and PCs.

“Electronic waste is a tremendous resource but its not being managed nearly as effectively as it could be,” Kevin Brigden, a scientist at Greenpeace in the U.K., said in an interview. Phones and computers need to be designed so recyclers can easily extract the “pot of gold” in the waste, he said.

The Hamburg-based refiner, one of a handful of precious- metal recycling firms in the world, recovers about 3.5 tons of gold worth some $110 million each year from mobile phones and other electronic scrap. Similarly, Umicore SA near Antwerp, Belgium, recovers about 6 tons of gold a year from waste.

Their business prospects are helped by stepped-up recycling campaigns at Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europes largest television manufacturer, and Nokia Oyj, the worlds biggest mobile-phone maker. Amsterdam-based Philips is investing 1 billion euros ($1.25 billion) until 2012 designing products to be recycled more easily that contain fewer chemicals and feature other “green” innovations.

Nokia Incentives, Donations

Nokia tells customers how to discard phones at service centers and online. The Finland-based company also offers such incentives as free ring tones in China and donations to favorite charities in Europe to encourage recycling. Only one in six cellphones that Germans toss away get dropped off at recycling centers.

“Its only a matter of time before customers become familiar with recycling,” Nokia spokeswoman Susan Smith said.

With more gold from waste likely, thats offering a growth opportunity for companies and investors even as the German economy contracts this year.

“There is an abundance of raw materials and the processing capacity is very tight,” said Michael Landau, management board member responsible for Norddeutsche Affineries metal recycling operations. “The amount of raw material has risen over the past few years and were trying to take on more and add capacity.”

Seeing Steady Increase

Other companies that refine gold and precious metals from electronic waste include Xstrata Plc and Swedens Boliden AB. The process used by these refiners is “good” at recovering the metals without damaging the environment like it does in some developing countries, the Greenpeace groups Brigden said.

Norddeutsche Affinerie, which is also Europes largest copper refiner, uses a three-stage electrolysis process that collects precious metals in a “dark sludge” of fine particles, Landau said. From there, the metal is made into bars of gold or powder for industrial processes.

A metric ton of electronic waste contains as much as 347 grams of gold, according to researcher Perrine Chancerel of Technische Universitaet Berlin. Almost all of which can be recovered if the waste is delivered to processing facilities instead of dumped in the trash.

Gold in Trash?

Even with a law against electronic waste, Germans toss out 438 kilograms of gold with their old phones and computers every year along with 191 kilos of palladium, also used in catalytic converters, and its likely theres more in landfills, she said.

“Theres enormous potential to recover these precious metals,” Chancerel said.

None of that matters if the junk isnt collected and sorted properly, said Maria Elander, who investigates waste at the environmental organization Deutsche Umwelthilfe in Berlin. Electronic waste is growing three times faster than regular household garbage, according to the Environment Ministry.

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