One of the UK’s biggest street cleaning firms has announced it is to “mine” the sweepings it collects from roads and pavements, in search of gold and other precious metals.
Veolia Environmental Services believes it can find at least £1 million worth of materials like platinum, palladium and rhodium from the muck swept up from Britain’s streets each year.
These metals are commonly used in catalytic converters and tiny amounts can be thrown out by car exhausts, which then settle on street surfaces. The company believes it may even find traces of gold and silver in the sweepings, as tiny fragments can rub off clothes, shoes and jewellery.
Until now, street sweepings have been sent straight to landfill or compost sites, but Veolia has now established the country’s first plant to extract precious metals from the material, at Ling Hall, near Rugby, Warwickshire.
The rubbish will go through a number of processes, including filtration and chemical washes, to extract the valuable substances.
Click here to read the full report from The Telegraph
