https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/05/10/Warning-Against-Green-Ener...

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/05/10/Warning-Against-Green-Energy-Boom-Sparks-Debate/

I Warned Against the Green Energy ‘Boom.’ It Sparked Debate
Challengers raised points that merit responses. Mine lead to one answer: degrowth.

2. The recycling paradox

Many readers thought we could solve the problems of rising demand for materials and metal for renewable technologies with recycling.

Yes, let’s recycle solar panels, wind blades and rare earth batteries. Let’s also repair and reuse. But we must recognize society hasn’t even begun to address the scale of its waste problem.

The scale of electronic waste reads like a horror story. The global economy casts off about 51 million tonnes of toxic electronic gadgetry to landfills every year. Embedded in one million cell phones are 24 kilograms of gold, 16,000 kilograms of copper, 350 kilograms of silver and 14 kilograms of palladium.

Incredibly we currently recycle only 20 per cent of this waste. Moreover, the Gods of Economic Growth encourage the faithful to buy more and more digital gadgets. (Every American throws away an average of 20 kilograms of electronic waste a year.) Meanwhile the media floods our senses with glowing reports on the latest, must-have disposable digital objects — everything from cleaning robots to neck massagers and headphones.