Sustainable E Waste Recycling

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Sustainable E WasteRecycling

• Presented by
• Rick Wakelin
• 12 November 2007
• Green Your IT Seminar 2007

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Images to Ponder
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E Waste E-Scrap categories

• Directives introduced in 2002 (WEEE) 2003 (use
  of hazardous materials) covering the following
  e-waste categories
• Large and small household appliances
• IT and telecommunications equipment
• Lighting equipment
• Toys, leisure and sports equipment
• Medical devices (with the exception
• of implanted and infected products)
• Monitoring and control instruments
• Automatic dispensers
• Electrical and electronic tools

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WEEE Man -amount of waste electrical and
electronic products thrown away by an average
person in a lifetime 3t
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General Product Lifecycle
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Scope of the problem

• Rapidly growing waste stream.
• Lack of convenient options for responsible
  disposal.
• Large exports of illegal E scrap to Asia/Africa
• Often falsely labelled as Reuse to circumvent
  restrictions on waste exports
• Lack of willingness by manufacturers across the
  board to take responsibility.
• Contains harmful and highly toxic chemicals.
• Valuable resources lost when products are land
  filled or not recycled correctly

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Scope of problem contd

• Reuse is only a temporary solution leads to e
  scrap that requires recycling
• Distance too great much higher in regional
  areas
• Product confusion
• Lack of Recycling knowledge
• Cost factor who pays?
• Disposal responsibility whose?

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Manufacturing Environmental Impact?

• One desktop One 17 Monitor equates to the use
  of
• 22kgs of Chemicals
• 1500kgs of water
• 240kgs of fossil fuels
• Same as a mid size car makes no sense to bury
  them when they can be reused
• 5 oil refined today is used in manufacturing
  plastics 4-7kgs of virgin plastic used to
  manufacture new PC

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Is this sustainable?
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Simple answer NO!

• Typical backyard recycling/metals recovery
• leads to open sky incineration
• Acid stripping or Cyanide leaching methods
• Release of toxins and other poisonous gasses
• Low recovery yields
• Considerable damage to the health of local
  workers, neighbourhood and environment

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Elements of E Waste Monitors
Phosphor Applied as a coat to the interior of the
CRT face plate. The hazards of Phosphor are not
well known but the Navy warns this substance
is extremely toxic
Plastics Dioxins can be formed when pvc
burned brominated Flame retardants have been
found to reduce the levels of Thyroxin
Barium Used in the front panel of the CRT
to protect users from Radiation. Studies
show that short term exposure to Barium can cause
brain swelling, muscle weakness and damage to the
heart , liver and spleen.
Lead Approx 3.5kgs per CRT. Lead is toxic to
kidneys, nervous and reproductive systems
inhibits development of young children and
fetuses.
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PC Laptops
Cadmium Present in most components in a computer.
It is used as a plastics stabiliser. It
concentrates in the body and can cause kidney
damage and harm to fragile bones.
Lead Used on solder joints. Lead is toxic to
kidneys, nervous and reproductive systems
inhibits development of young children and
fetuses.
Mercury In many components on circuit boards.
High levels of exposure contribute to brain and
kidney damage, harm developing fetus and can be
passed through breast milk
Beryllium Commonly found on motherboards
and connectors. Has recently been classified as
a human carcinogen
Plastics Dioxins can be formed when pvc
burned Brominated Flame Retardants have been
found to reduce the levels of Thyroxin
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Other Elements of E Waste

• Precious metals-Gold (Au), Silver (Ag), Palladium
  (Pd), smaller amounts of Platinum (Pt)
• Base metals Copper (Cu), Aluminum (Al), Nickel
  (Ni), Tin (Sn), Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe) etc
• Metals of concern Mercury (Hg), Beryllium (Be),
  Indium (In), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd) Arsenic
  (As) Antimony (Sb) etc
• Halogens Bromine, Chlorine, Fluorine (Flame
  retardants)
• Combustibles Plastics, Organic fluids

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Process Recycling Scheme
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Typical outcomes
Landfill
0 recovery 100 Contamination
Typical heavy duty metals shredding and
recovery process
20 to 30 recovery Based on mix
95 to 98 recovery Based on mix
PGM Recycling
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Constituent Materials
97 of materials recycled
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So Why Recycle E waste

• Australia carelessly depletes its future
  resources of valuable raw materials
• We are using minerals at an alarming rate
• In total, E-waste large amounts of precious and
  non ferrous metals (although only a few grams per
  unit)
• High risk of environmental damage if land filled
  or if not treated in an environmentally sound way
• Primary resources (mines) of these materials are
  thin on the ground in Australia
• EOL E waste is a huge secondary resource mine
  above ground should not be wasted
• Exporting our E Scrap means giving away our
  resources
• Most toxic substances generally considered to be
  contained in Monitors and Printed Circuit boards
• Most valuable metals are also contained in
  Circuit boards

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How Long? Sustainability

• (Cu) Copper wire, coins, plumbing, circuitry
• (Ag) Gold jewelry, dental, Electronics
• ( Au) Silver jewelry, Cat Converters, Computer
  chips
• (In) Indium Plasma, LCD
• (Pb) Lead Auto, Glass, solder,
• (As) Antimony PCB, Pharmaceuticals

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Observations

• Recycling of E waste is more complex than it
  appears
• Several chain links have to cooperate
• Consider and monitor the whole chain
• Dismantling, mechanical preprocessing and
  refining of E Waste are highly interdependent
• Economies of scale are important the more we go
  downstream in the recycling chain
• Specialization and expertise is the key to
  successful recycling operations
• Balancing economical and ecological performance
  for efficient sustainable recycling of E waste

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Conclusions

• Promote recycling and other forms of recovery
  from E Waste
• Provision of a strong regulatory environment
  ban land fill
• Monitor and improve the environmental performance
  of recyclers
• Promote programs that work and maximise
  eco-efficiency and optimise the environmental and
  economical balance
• Transparency of material flows until the final
  destination is a key element
• High level of interest from the community
• 68 of users motivated to do the right thing.
• Divert valuable resources away from land fill

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Conclusions Cont

• Involve the whole community
• More control and enforcement is required
• Demonstrate leadership
• Seed an ongoing program in the absence of
  industry initiatives
• Promote or implement voluntary agreements or
  covenants with recycling industry on the
  recycling standard
• Take into account eco-efficiency avoid loss-loss
  and encourage win-win

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PGM Refiners

• National specialty technology company focusing on
  the recovery, upgrade of electronic waste
• Develop hydrometallurgical process for treating e
  scrap
• Striving for growth and leadership in 3 business
  areas
• Electronic scrap collection and recovery
• Precious metal services
• Research development of E Scrap upgrades
• Focus on technology and innovation making use of
  our expertise in chemical and metallurgical
  processes
• Committed to sustainable value creation and
  closing the loop.
• Recycling Solutions to create
• Materials for a better life

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Sustainable E waste recycling requires a national
network of partners to offer much more than just
technical solutions

• We invite other stakeholders to join us in
  the development of appropriate measures to
  further increase recycling efficiency, promoting
  best practice quality standards and
  environmentally sound operations.
• Responsible Electronic Recycling
• 
  Its our Future!

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Thank you Questions?

• Contact rwakelin_at_pgmrefiners.com
• www.pgmrefiners.com