(Removes reference to carbon and nuclear power in last paragraph after company clarified emissions)
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain-based recycling firm Exurban is planning to open a facility in the United States to retrieve metals including copper, gold and silver from e-waste such as mobile phones, computers and televisions, it said on Monday.
Recycling metals will be crucial to meeting targets for cutting carbon emissions set by governments around the world.
Every year millions of tonnes of e-waste are buried in landfill or shipped overseas, often to the developing world, where poorly regulated disposal of electronic devices damages health and the environment.
"Exurban will invest more than $340 million developing the world’s first zero waste smelter and refinery designed specifically to treat e-waste and other complex non-ferrous scrap regionally," the company said in a release.
The new facility will occupy 77 acres at the Adams Township Industrial Park in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Producing metal from scrap is significantly less energy intensive than mining and smelting.