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Technical Process of WEEE Recycling: Products and Processes

Technical Process of WEEE Recycling: Products and Processes Presented to China’s National Appliance Productivity Center (CNAPC) Conference on WEEE Robin Ingenthron President, American Retroworks Inc. VP, ElectroniCycle Inc. September 24-26, 2002. State Recycling Contracts: 3 Basic Goals.

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Technical Process of WEEE Recycling: Products and Processes

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  1. Technical Process of WEEE Recycling: Products and Processes Presented to China’s National Appliance Productivity Center (CNAPC) Conference on WEEE Robin Ingenthron President, American Retroworks Inc. VP, ElectroniCycle Inc. September 24-26, 2002

  2. State Recycling Contracts:3 Basic Goals • Meet Chinese/World demand for copper • Use Bestavailable environmental management • Least possible cost

  3. Example: the CRT Monitor • US demand: 50 million monitors per year • Chinese demand: 50M monitors per year • India demand: 50M monitors per year • % Made in Asia rising every year These 3 countries will need 450,000,000 lbs. of copper for monitors alone

  4. 3 Sources of Copper World Copper Production: 2001 1. Mining (concentrates) 13,570,000 tons 2. Primary Smelter Recycling 1,234,000 (includes mix of brass, etc.) 3. Secondary Smelter Recycling 802,000

  5. Lifecycle of Copper Primary Smelting Mining Secondary Smelting Wire Fabrication Product Assembly Distribution / Retail First Consumer 2nd Consumer Repair Recycle Disposal

  6. First Effect: Reduce Mining Waste cyanide Arsenic 500 Tons Mining, Concentrating 2% concentrates, 98% waste Primary Smelting 350 tons residuals, 145 tons leachate tailings 1.8-2.7 tons SO gas 1.8 tons slag 1 ton refined copper

  7. Number of 15 largest EPA Superfund Sites which are hard rock mines:14 Percent of all toxic emissions from all US Industries attributed to hard-rock mining: 47% Estimated Cost of Superfund cleanups to taxpayers $10B Pollution Subsidies for Raw Materials

  8. Recycling Markets Primary Smelting Secondary Smelting First Consumer Recycle 2nd Consumer Repair

  9. Recycling Plant Shipping

  10. 1) Collection and Receiving Collections/deliveries from City services, Retailers, Charities, Trash Haulers 6 Million residents Receiving: Must categorize, price, weigh each load and enter it into administration database. $/lb mixed $/lb TVs $/lb CPUs $/lb monitors

  11. Destiny of materials at ElectroniCycle Glass Smelters Plastic Recyclers Gold, copper, aluminum other metals Smelters

  12. 2) Technical Triage 3) Demanufacturing /Processing Department 4) Technical Department $8-10 / hour 70% labor force 50 categories of scrap remove screws grading baling 15-30% $10-22 / hour 30% labor force 41 categories of parts, reuse, etc. inspect for in-house repair inspect for 3rd party repair 70-85%

  13. Demanufacturing labor is high (75 monitors per FTE/day) Plant and overhead is new Baling, shredding, air compressing, power generating equipment, degaussing equipment, rolling stock, shredder Why is USA recycling expensive? • Revenues: • Tip Fees 85% • Repair / Resale 10% • Recycling 5%

  14. Labor cost to product value$ spent and earned per 1000 monitors Does not include tipping fees charged to government. Unscrupulous competitors avoid demanufacturing and repair labor, send WEEE overseas “as is”

  15. 3. Demanufacturing / Processing • Processed Material • Grades of gold • Grades of copper • Grades of ferrous • Grades of Plastic • Grades of Alumium • Grades of Glass

  16. Possible End-Markets for Processed Material Disadvantages

  17. Sample Beijing EPA Permit for graded copper scrap. These permits are intended to allow 3 million tons per year of processed (clean) scrap, but some may have been abused by waste exporters

  18. 4. Technical Department 4) Technical Department Domestic Refurbishment - TVs 1992+, 75 cm+ - Monitors 1996+, 55cm+ - Parts resale, cords, etc. - Networking Equipment Export Reuse - Working small monitors - Repairable large monitors - Pentium computers - Repairable PAL TVs, VCRs 25% material = 60% revenue

  19. 4. Examples of Technical Dept.

  20. Realistic Reuse Goals Red portion is still good for reuse, Blue portion should be processed to remove toxic waste % of weight Re-usable

  21. Largest Sellers of Refurbished Computer Equipment (USA) • Gateway • Dell • IBM • Hewlett Packard/Compaq • “Certified” Refurbished units is fastest growing profit center • Used Quality Products compete with New Off-name products Hire your best counterfeiters!

  22. Summary of Alternatives

  23. Chinese secondary non-ferrous smelters

  24. Chinese secondary non-ferrous smelters, cont.

  25. Recycling or Disposal Jobs / Ton 1 ton = about 50 picture tubes Most employment from repair and reuse; Next most employment is from correct processing

  26. Www.ban.org www.unctad.org www.mineralpolicy.org www.mpi.org.au www.retroworks.com www.electronicycle.com More Perspectives

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