Vocabulary Builder — Essay & Answer Writing
Urban Mining
The process of recovering valuable raw materials — metals, minerals, and rare elements — from discarded electronic devices, end-of-life vehicles, and other manufactured goods in urban waste streams, rather than extracting them from primary ore deposits.
Coined by analogy with traditional mining; 'urban' because the source is man-made waste in cities, not natural geological deposits
"Mobile phone circuit boards contain approximately 2 kg of gold per tonne — making urban mining 5 to 50 times more resource-efficient than extracting an equivalent amount from gold ore deposits."
Critical concept connecting environment, economy, and strategic resource security. India's e-waste generates ₹51,000 crore annually in recoverable material value, of which only 18% is currently extracted. NITI Aayog's 2026 circular economy reports at IMRC Jaipur highlighted urban mining as India's key strategy to reduce import dependence on cobalt (90%+ imported), lithium (100% imported), and rare earth elements — all critical for EVs, electronics, and defence. Use in GS-3 (Environment, Circular Economy, Critical Minerals, Resource Security).