Royal Society of Chemistry’s Elements in Danger Campaign

That the Parliament welcomes the campaign, Elements in Danger, launched in the International Year of the Periodic Table by the Royal Society of Chemistry to raise awareness of rare elements contained in unused mobile phones and devices; understands that there are an estimated 40 million unused gadgets in UK homes, that these electronic devices contain precious elements that are in danger of running out in the next 100 years and that the majority of households have no plans to recycle them; acknowledges that there is a lack of infrastructure available to disassemble and extract rare elements from mobile devices at scale; recognises that research and development investment is needed to develop large-scale technological solutions that facilitate electronics recycling and recovery of rare elements for a circular economy model, as well as to build sustainability into the product design of devices, and calls on the Scottish Government to work in partnership with academia, industry and consumers towards common sustainability goals for rare elements.