
Renew IT & UNSW Smart Lab have formed a collaboration extracting rare earth metals and separating toxins and plastics in e-waste to create feedstock to supply back into the manufacturing supply chain. This zero waste approach is the first of it’s kind in the technology industry and is proudly Australian owned IP.
Surfacemine wants to prevent the
unethical mining of metals such as cobalt
and find better ways to mine materials
that already exist on our planets surface
from being previously extracted and used.
Sustainability is an area we are primarily focused on at Renew IT. Whilst our primary aim is to repurpose and refurbish old IT equipment and extend the life of that asset, we are processing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of e-waste each year, equipment that is too old to be reused and has no resale value.
However according to recent figures provided by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum, 57.4 Million Tonnes of e-waste was dumped in 2021 globally with only 17% estimated to have been “recycled” effectively.
Three years ago, we partnered with the University of New South Wales and Professor Veena Sahajwalla as she designed the world’s first e-waste ‘Smartlab Micro Factorie’™ . Through collaboration with Renew IT and SurfaceMine we have been able to bring this ZERO WASTE innovation out of the lab and into the industry.
We do this by breaking down old bulky IT hardware such as old data centre equipment and broken IT hardware that’s irreparable. We separate the equipment down to plastics and rare precious earths, we address all the materials ensuring there really is ZERO WASTE. Using the IP developed by the University Smartlab we can create feedstock to manufacture parts for industry. Providing locally sourced and produced parts and equipment that previously would have been imported from overseas.
Surfacemine is the future of Manufacturing in Australia.

