Important facts you should know about e waste recycling

Important Facts You Should Know About E-waste Recycling E-waste stands for electronic waste. E-waste recycling is the reuse and recycling of any type of electrical and electronic equipment that has been rejected or is considered obsolete. Some of the most common E-waste types are: • • •

Home appliances, i.e. televisions, DVDs, radios, refrigerators, cookers, air-conditions, and microwave ovens, etc.

Information technology equipment, i.e. computers, laptops, hard disks, cameras, and mobile phones, etc.

Common electrical equipment such as light bulbs, fans, etc.

Effects Of E-Waste on Humans and Environment The solder on computers and TV boards has high lead content. Even a computer monitor's glass plate and, of course, lead batteries pollute the air, water and soil. In addition, they hinder the brain's development process, while also endangering the central nervous system and kidneys. Lead poisoning is one of the most dangerous hazards of electronic waste.

Cables, PVC panels, metallic parts and glass react to humidity and oxygen, and eventually decompose over time when left ignored. All this dissolves in the soil making it harmful for farming. Moreover, the residual effect of such exposure causes developmental problems in reproduction parts and the brain. It also damages the immune system and causes stress, anxiety and other mental problems.

Motherboard circuits can cause lung cancer. Elements in the motherboard react and create beryllium which contaminates the air around us. This air is responsible for skin diseases, including carp and certain dangerous allergies.

Process of Electronic Waste Recycling Electronic devices are made up of different proportions of glass, metals and plastics. Recycling them could thus be a tedious process but in order to maintain a cleaner and greener environment these devices need to be discarded of with care:

Steps of Electronic Waste Recycling: 1. Manual sorting: E-waste is sorted manually when it arrives at the recycling plant. Different kinds of waste materials and components are picked out and separated by hand. Batteries are removed carefully for quality checks.

2. Manual dismantling: All the e-waste items retrieved are categorized and taken apart by hand. Then they are separated according to the core compounds that they are made of. These are further divided into categories of waste that can be reused or recycled.

3. Size Reduction Process: This step consists of two steps; primary and secondary reduction processes.

During primary size reduction process, all materials that cannot be dismantled further are crushed into pieces ranging in the size of 4 to 10 inches. This process is a preparatory step for further fragmentation of materials.

For the secondary size reduction the broken e-waste is put onto a conveyor belt and taken through an automatic shredding apparatus. The size of the material is further reduced to less than 2 inches.

All loose particles and dust generated during this process is eliminated in an appropriate and environmentally friendly manner.

4. Commodity Separation: This is the final step of the E- Waste Recycling process. Different types of machines are used to separate e-waste components. Once separated, all the components obtained can be resold as raw materials for reuse such as plastic, glass, copper, iron, steel, chipped plates and valuable metal blends.