Recycling of WEEE

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Recycling of WEEE

• Simon Hill
• Commercial Manager - Recycling

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Presentation Overview

• Legislative Requirements
• Recycling Processes
• Case Study The Wincanton WEEE Plant
• Operational Considerations
• Compliance Reporting

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Wincanton Group dimensions
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Wincanton and Recycling

• Fridge plant commissioned November 2002
• National collection and sortation network
  established April 2005
• Won Best Partnership Category at 2005 National
  Recycling Awards
• WEEE plant commissioned Jan 2006
• High focus area for Wincanton

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Legislative Considerations
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What does WEEE consist of?

• Ferrous Metal (Iron, stainless steel)
• Non-Ferrous Metal (aluminium, copper)
• Plastics
• Printed circuit boards
• Batteries
• Capacitors
• Liquid crystal displays
• Cathode ray tubes
• Mercury switches

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Legislative requirements

• EU WEEE Directive sets recycling targets for
  different categories of WEEE
• Recycling Recovery
• White goods fridges 75 80
• IT consumer equipment 65 75
• Small appliances, power tools etc 50
  70
• Gas discharge lamps 80 N/A
• These targets will be gradually increased by the
  EU
• Treatment plants need to be able to demonstrate
  these recycling rates are achieved

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Treatment requirements

• Directive names specific components to be
  recovered, for example
• Capacitors
• Mercury switches or backlight lamps
• Batteries
• Printed circuit boards
• Toner cartridges
• Plastic containing brominated flame retardants
• Cathode ray tubes (CRTs)
• Refrigerant gases
• Liquid crystal displays (LCDs)

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Recycling Processes
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Categories of WEEE

• Refrigeration
• Specialist Processing to remove CFCs
• Fluorescent Lighting
• Removal of mercury or sodium
• CRT Containing Equipment
• Removal of CRT tube
• Large White Goods
• Small WEEE

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WEEE Processing

• Refrigeration
• Existing processes largely WEEE compliant
• Requirement for intrinsically safe processing
  of newer hydrocarbon fridges

• Fluorescent Lighting
• Existing processes in place to recover hazardous
  parts
• Followed by materials separation

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WEEE Processing

• Cathode Ray Tubes
• Removal of CRT tube
• Separation of panel and funnel glass
• Remainder of unit can be separated as per small
  WEEE

• Large White Goods
• Removal of printed circuit board
• Removal of concrete ballast
• Large scale shredding available but needs to
  achieve recycling rates

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WEEE Processing

• Small WEEE
• More components to recover
• Manual dismantling processes exist
• Larger scale processes need to ensure integrity
  of materials, and avoid shredding waste

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Case Study The Wincanton WEEE Plant
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Wincanton WEEE Plant

• Commissioned Jan 2006 at Billingham
• Complemented existing fridge plant
• Investment of 4.5 million
• First of its kind in the UK
• Capacity of 10 tonnes per hour (75,000 tonnes per
  year)
• Mixture of mechanical and manual processes
• Achieves quality of manual separation at high
  throughput levels

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Basis of the MeWa plant

• QZ technology
• Utilises chains to break up materials rather than
  conventional shearing technology
• Speed and residence time adjustable
• WEEE Plant
• Component separation
• Analogy of cracking the nut
• Fridge plant
• Small fragments
• Release of all gases

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WEEE Plant Process
QZ
In-Feed Hopper
Manual pre-treatment
Discharge of components
Component Separation
Individual components
Mechanical separation
Non-Ferrous metal
Ferrous metal
Plastic
Coarse non- Ferrous
Fines
Coarse Ferrous

Non-Ferrous separation
Ferrous separation
Picking station
Batteries Electrical motors Capacitors Large
items Printed circuit boards Other hazardous
components
Granulation
Mechanical separation
Individual components
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Fridge Plant Process
De-gassing
CFC or CFC Replacement gases
Removal of cooling circuit contents
Ultrasonic separation
Removal of compressor
Oil
QZ
CFC or hydrocarbon gases
Removal of nitrogen and CFC gases
Cryo-Condensation
Nitrogen blanket
Shredding
Materials Separation
Fines separation
Drying
Ferrous separation
Non-Ferrous separation
Plastic
Further CFC Removal
Foam powder
Ferrous metal
Non-Ferrous metal
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Summary

• Both Wincanton plants allow for high volumes of
  waste electrical equipment to be processed using
  Best Available Technology
• The QZ technology is integral to the process
• Component separation maximises recycling levels
• Quality of components enable cost effective
  processing
• We are ready for WEEE!!!

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Summary

• WEEE processing technologies exist
• WEEE recycling has become a niche industry
• Industry is ready for implementation

• BUT.

• Need pragmatic approach to compliance reporting
• Strong regulation to ensure standards are adhered
  to

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recycling_at_wincanton.co.uk