E-waste, or electronic waste, refers to electronic products that are almost at the end of their useful life. Typically, e-waste can be refurbished, reused, or recycled. Common electronics that can be recycled include televisions, computers, stereos, and more. E-waste recycling is a very important process that can ensure e-waste is properly disposed of. In this post, we explain more about what e-waste recycling is.
E-Waste Recycling
E-waste recycling is the process of using recovered material from old devices to create new ones. Electronic devices are made from very valuable materials like tin, iron, aluminum, fossil fuels, titanium, silver, gold, and copper. Most of the components of electronics can be salvaged and used in new products.
Currently, only 12.5% of e-waste is recycled. The vast majority is improperly discarded. When electronics end up in landfills, the valuable materials are wasted. Additionally, they may leak harmful chemicals into the environment. Instead of just throwing your old electronics away, you should take them to an e-waste recycling program whenever possible. This way, you help reduce the amount of electronic waste and work toward a more sustainable planet.
Benefits of E-Waste Recycling
E-waste recycling is a very important process that is beneficial to the electronic industry and the environment. Some of the top advantages of e-waste recycling are:
- It helps save natural resources.
- It reduced pollution
- It conserves landfill space.
- It creates jobs.
- It cuts down on production waste.
Steps in E-Waste Recycling
E-waste recycling is a very important process, but it is not an easy one. There is a lot of work that goes into e-waste recycling. The main steps in e-waste recycling include:
- Collect and transport electronics. Sometimes, this is in the form of collection bins or booths in set locations. The e-waste must then be taken from these places to the recycling facilities.
- After collecting e-waste, the facilities must then process all of the items. First, workers sort the items manually and remove batteries for quality checks.
- Next is disassembly. Manual dismantling is a labor-intensive process that removed all parts and separates items into different categories.
- Materials must be efficiently separated. Plastics are separated from metals, and the waste materials are shredded for further sorting.
- Next, the separated materials must be prepared for sale in the form of usable raw materials.
Components to Reuse
There are many important materials that can be effectively re-used through e-waste recycling. Some of the top materials recovered include:
- Plastic. Plastic materials are sent to recyclers and used to make a wide variety of products.
- Metal. Recyclers send scrap metals to manufacturers to make new metallic materials like steel.
- Glass. Glass comes from Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) that are in TVs and computer monitors. Extracting this glass is dangerous and complicated, but the extracts are used to make new screens.
- Mercury recycling facilities use it for metric instruments, dental amalgams, and fluorescent lighting.
- Batteries. Batteries are huled to take out plastic and metals are also recovered for re-use.
- Hard Drives. Shredded hard drives will be used to create aluminum ingots in the automotive industry.
E-waste recycling is a crucial process for properly disposing of electronic devices. To learn more about e-waste recycling or to recycle your electronics, contact us HERE.
