The article discusses the main provisions on the extraction and use of non-ferrous metals from electronic equipment and cell phones, which has advantages over the extraction of non-ferrous metals from ores from an economic and environmental point of view. The main scientific research, foreign experience in this area are considered. The methodological components of the problem are studied. The field of extraction of secondary precious metals is allocated in metallurgy in a separate sphere. Significant sources of secondary precious metals are: non-ferrous metallurgy, instrument making and digital industry. The content of components such as gold, platinum, silver and palladium in waste is significantly higher than in ore, so the process of waste processing with the extraction of precious metals is an economically profitable direction. The share of secondary precious metals in the total volume of their production currently represents about 40% and continues to grow. Electronic scrap is of the most significant importance, since electronic goods have the characteristic of quickly becoming obsolete and are recycled. The real problem in metallurgy is the pollution of reservoirs with industrial wastewater, the water is saturated with phenols and acids, large impurities and cyanides, arsenic and cresol, etc. During mining, a large amount of dust is released into the air. Every day up to two kilograms of dust falls on the adjacent areas of the quarries, which is why the soil is buried for many years, and often forever, under a layer of half a meter, and naturally loses fertility. And in the mining industry, for example, methods are used to separate precious metals from mineral impurities, including the release of toxic compounds into the atmosphere. Metal recycling has not only environmental, but also economic advantages. Of course, you won't earn much if you hand over the equipment for recycling. However, at the national level, a significant profit is made during the year. It is not surprising that the authorities of the industrially developed countries of the world are educating citizens not to throw spent electronic products into landfills, but to recycle them. All work on this issue is based on the extraction of valuable metals from electronic scrap, in particular from microchips, radio elements, components of devices and others. It is noted that a large number of used phones, a rapid change of models, determines promising opportunities for extracting and processing non-ferrous metals from them. The criteria that contribute to improving the competitiveness of enterprises in the world market are analyzed.