Sustainable disposal of electronic waste: rethinking electronics production
Sustainable recycling processes are more important today than ever before, because there are real treasures hidden in our disused electrical appliances.
For most projects, the production steps at A+B Electronic are already fixed at the start: we buy PCBs and components and assemble them in the PCB assembly department. Many - if not all - components contain critical materials that have to be painstakingly extracted worldwide. As an electronics manufacturer, the recovery of resources at the end of the product life cycle was less of a focus for us. Together with Reco-eWaste, we are working on ways to turn linear manufacturing processes into a sustainable cycle.
Sustainable recovery of secondary raw materials
Product life cycles are becoming shorter and shorter, especially in the electronic devices sector. New devices that can do more are being launched on the market at ever shorter intervals. Changing customer demands and new value chains are leading to changes in the development and manufacture of electrical appliances. This requires raw materials that have to be extracted under difficult conditions. This is already having a negative impact on people and the environment. As demand increases, the amount of available resources decreases at the same time. Recycling could be a solution here. However, electrical appliances are not usually fully recycled. Instead, only some elements are separated and the less valuable materials are incinerated. This gave rise to an idea for Rudolf von Stokar:
„What if we no longer have to extract new raw materials from mines in the future because we can use existing materials through recycling processes? That would be a closed cycle, a circular economy or even a ‘cradle to cradle’ approach."
What is Reco-eWaste all about?
The idea became Reco-eWaste, a certified waste management company for e-recycling. Electronic waste is recycled here - classically computers, smartphones or cable remnants, etc. Industrial batteries from electric vehicles and smaller batteries, e.g. from e-scooters, are also recycled here. All devices and components are dismantled and the production process is reversed. As a result, these components are recycled down to the raw materials and the metals they contain, such as iron, copper, rhodium, tungsten, titanium, neodymium, lithium, cobalt and aluminum, are recovered. This is done using an innovative, chemical-free and gentle process.
What does Cradle to Cradle stand for?
Cradle to cradle stands for a circular economy in which materials can be recycled without any loss of quality. Consistent quality is important in this approach, so that all raw materials used in production can be reused or biodegraded to serve other production processes. The approach is in contrast to linear production processes, which, according to the phrase ‘cradle to grave’, only count from production to the consumer.
Disposal of electrical appliances: Reverse electronics manufacturing
What makes the Reco-eWaste approach so special is the almost one-to-one conversion of electronic waste into valuable secondary raw materials. This creates a closed cycle in which resources can be almost completely recovered. Roughly speaking, the process consists of three steps:
Step 1 - collect & dismantle
The electrical appliances are collected, cleaned and dismantled at Reco-eWaste. Elements that are not made of metal, such as plastics, are recycled separately in this process. Metals, on the other hand, are tested to determine their composition before they are fed into the extraction process.
Step 2 - Separate
The metals are extracted individually from the waste. The elements are separated from each other through a series of catalytic reactions. For example, a component can first be separated from the gold, then from the copper and aluminum. It is important to note that the catalysts are food-safe and do not contaminate the wastewater.
Step 3 - Recovering
The recovered material is converted into pellets and mechanically shredded as required. The material purity is improved by a combination of cleaning and screening steps. At the same time, the powder particle size is also reduced. The smallest particles can be as small as 20 nanometers, for example.
The materials are separated from each other in large liquid tanks and processed into pellets or powder. The fine powder can then be used for additive manufacturing in the medical sector, for example. This is because the powder diameter has a direct influence on the surface quality and ease of cleaning in medical end products.
However, due to the complete conversion of all elements, the effort involved is also higher than with other recycling processes and it takes more time overall.
„But the greater effort is worth it, because in the end it also delivers a better result. The raw materials that have already been processed are restored to their original atomic structure and can therefore be used again in production.“
Rudolf von Stokar
Managing Director Reco-eWaste
How does this approach differ from traditional e-recycling?
Until now, the recycling of disused electrical appliances has often been limited to bulk metals such as iron, steel, copper, aluminum and precious metals. These are easy to recover, while raw materials such as rare earths, tantalum, gallium and indium have global recycling rates of less than one percent. This is because they are only used in small quantities and in very complex ways in electrical appliances, making the recycling process very complex. This is where e-recycling technologies need to come in, which is also the goal of von Stokar and his company.
Old electrical appliances, for example, are incinerated in the recycling process. Precious metals and rare earths are selected from the resulting slag. The rest is then exported, e.g. to Africa, where other materials such as copper are extracted. This results in high costs, air pollution and risks to people's health. Reco-eWaste relies on shredding the parts and dissolving the raw materials in a water tank.
How we and our customers can benefit from recycling into secondary raw materials
The big advantage: If you as a company dispose of old appliances on a large scale, you know exactly where and how the materials are processed via a certified disposal company. At the same time, it is possible to buy back the recovered secondary raw materials at a good price if required. This ensures a cycle of resources in which everything is 100% recycled and fed back into the process.
Do you need return logistics for your disused electronic devices? Then let's talk about it. Together with Reco-eWaste, we can accept your electronic waste free of charge. You don't have to worry about any fees or costs for disposal and we return the raw materials to a sustainable recycling process.
