How is e waste recycled

IGI Global. UN Environment Programme. Environmental Protection Agency. Institute of Physics. The Global E-Waste Monitor UN Environmental Programme. World Economic Forum. Accessed Jan. The Global Waste Statistics Partnership.

Basel Action Network. The rule has strengthened the Extended Producer Responsibility EPR , which is the global best practice to ensure the take-back of the end-of-life products.

The producers have to meet targets, which should be 20 per cent of the waste generated by their sales. This will increase by 10 per cent annually for the next five years.

And despite new rules that have come into place to safely process this hazardous material, close to 80 per cent of e-waste — old laptops and cell phones, cameras and air conditioners, televisions and LED lamps — continues to be broken down, at huge health and environmental cost polluting ground water and soil, by the informal sector.

E-waste is growing at a compound annual growth rate CAGR of about 30 per cent in the country. India now has registered e-waste recyclers, accredited by the state governments to process e-waste. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology MeitY has initiated an e-waste awareness programme under Digital India, along with industry associations from , to create awareness among the public about the hazards of e-waste recycling by the unorganised sector, and to educate them about alternate methods of disposing their e-waste.

The programme stresses the need for adopting environment friendly e-waste recycling practices. The programme has adopted the best practices for e-waste recycling available globally, so that this sector could generate jobs as well as viable business prospects for locals. This could be done by upgrading and transforming the present state of affairs of informal sectors. E-waste also contains plastic, up to nearly 25 per cent of its weight.

Novel recovery and conversion of e-waste plastics to value-added products have also been successfully developed. How Is E-Waste Recycled? Lifecycle of Electronics Infographic from e-stewards. In one example, over 18 tons of e-waste was collected from one building alone in the first two weeks of a new e-waste program.

In another building, over pounds of e-waste was collected in just two hours! While the process varies, in general, this is what happens: Your old electronics might be inspected to see if they any items can be resold or refurbished , or if any parts can be reused.

Items that cannot be reused are generally shredded at a recycling plant. Many facilities use an optical sorting system to identify materials using a laser beam, and separate them into plastic, metal and computer chips. The sorted materials are then sold globally, where they are recycled. E-waste can be a valuable resource since it is easier to exact some heavy metals like gold and lead from e-waste than from ore itself.

Some materials are recycled here in the U. It has just instituted a producer responsibility system that will require suppliers and sellers of electronic products to pay for the free removal, collection, handling and proper disposal of items.

EcoATM provides a convenient and safe way to recycle and sell old cell phones, MP3 players and tablets. Consumers can bring their devices to one of 2, kiosks in the U. The EcoATM will evaluate it based on the model and condition, and pay you right there.

The items are then either reused or responsibly recycled. Photo: Michael Rivera. Within 24 hours, an accredited recycler comes to pick it up. In two months, 11, devices were recycled. Nickolas Themelis, professor emeritus of earth and environmental engineering and director of the Earth Engineering Center at Columbia University, said that the best and only economical large-scale recycling being done in North America today uses a copper smelter in Canada.

He explained that when e-waste is fed into the copper smelter, precious metals like silver, gold, platinum, palladium, selenium, and others dissolve in molten copper, which acts like a solvent at high temperatures. The impure copper because it comprises other metals that results is then sent to a refinery where pure copper is separated out and the other valuable metals can be collected.

This integrated smelting process combined with refining, though it recovers only metals that dissolve in copper, is a relatively inexpensive method of reclaiming e-waste metals. The smelter , in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, receives about 50, tons of e-waste each year.

To reduce health and environmental hazards while maintaining the informal recycling system that supports so many people, India and China are looking at ways to integrate the informal and formal recycling systems. One strategy would give informal recyclers financial incentives to divert e-waste to formal collection or recycling centers. For example, they could be paid more to deliver cathode ray tube screens to a formal collection center than they would get for dismantling it by hand themselves.

A circular economy is one that aims to keep products and all their materials in circulation at their highest value at all times or for as long as possible. Europe has made the circular economy a goal for the whole continent. Using the example of cell phones, Kersten-Johnston explained how the electronics industry could move towards a circular economy. But imagine a system where the provider or manufacturer retained ownership of the device through the contract so customers would pay a lower monthly fee and be expected to return the device for an upgrade.

The value could be recaptured in the form of parts for remanufacture or materials for recycling, and customers would still get their upgrades. The best thing you can do is to resist buying a new device until you really need it. Find a responsible recycler. Recyclers with the E-Steward label on their websites have been certified to meet the cleanest and most responsible standards for e-waste recycling.

E-Steward recyclers also clear your data in their recycling process. Find places to recycle near you through Consumer Resources, Recycle Electronics.

All about e-waste in New York City. New York State e-waste collection sites. A humorous look at a not so funny problem. Growing e-waste problem is a paramount concern and most of the people are not aware of how they can contribute to reduce this problem. Your blog gives comprehensive details on what people can do to handle the e-waste growing issue.

More and more readers can become familiar with the e-waste, its upsurge, the state of e-waste recycling and what they can do. Extremely informative blog. All male vertebrates are being biologically emasculated, feminized, sterilized, stupified and crazyfied. I think collaboration between the governments of developed and developing countries can help humanity get rid of e-waste.

Researchers should also try their best to develop ways to significantly or completely reduce the inclusion of toxic materials in electronic devices. The resource goes over how to recycle electronics, the importance of properly disposing of electronic waste, and other need-to-know information before throwing away electronics.

I have some questions about e-waste if anybody could respond that would be great!