Muscovites have thrown away 1.5 kg of gold in three years

Over the past three years, Moscow residents have recycled more than 130,000 units of household appliances and furniture, from refrigerators and washing machines to stoves and sofas. The total weight of the collected waste was almost 3.5 thousand tons. The printed circuit boards of these electronics could contain about 1.5 kg of gold. This was reported to Izvestia on March 25 by the Russian Environmental Operator (REO).

All the equipment was sent for recycling, which made it possible to return valuable resources to economic circulation. The collection of bulky waste is carried out within the framework of the city's Waste Disposal service, which has been in operation since 2022. Its popularity is growing every year: if in the first year of operation Muscovites handed over more than 22 thousand subjects, then in 2025 this figure exceeded 35 thousand, the REO noted.

The export of washing machines and refrigerators is in the greatest demand — 34 thousand units of each type. They are followed by gas and electric stoves (over 22,000 units) and sofas (over 6.5 thousand). Residents of the capital also rent dishwashers, ovens, bathtubs, sinks, beds, sports equipment, office equipment and even cars, they added.

At the same time, none of the items were sent to the landfill — all equipment and furniture are sent to specialized enterprises, the REO said. There, the waste is sorted and disassembled, after which valuable materials are extracted.

In addition to gold, silver, platinum and palladium are extracted from the equipment, which are sent for remelting and reuse. Plastic is processed into granules used in the production of new goods, from garden furniture to packaging and textiles, the REO concluded.

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On February 19, the REO announced that the Russian regions will launch projects for the disposal of fertilizer waste. We are talking about regions where there are objects of accumulation and formation of a by—product of the production of phosphorous fertilizers - phosphogypsum. These are Bashkortostan, the Republic of Crimea, Kuban, Stavropol, Vologda, Kirov, Leningrad, Saratov and Tambov regions, as well as the Moscow region.

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