Sorting of WEEE waste for recovery
Glass, metals and plastics are separated from electrical and electronic waste when recycling. During the pre-treatment all of the harmful substances, such as lead, mercury, cadmium and chromium VI are removed. These are sent to toxic waste disposal plants for processing.
Packaging waste, cables, wires, circuit boards and plastic parts are also separated. After this the separated materials are crushed, separated from each other mechanically and sent on for recovery.
More efficient recycling of metals
Metals are the materials that are the easiest to recycle of the electrical and electronic waste. The use of recycled plastic parts has also increased. An economic way of recovering plastic parts of electrical and electronic equipment is by reclaiming their energy content.
Iron, aluminium, magnesium, copper, zinc and stainless steel, for example, are separated by using an industrial process. The metals are generally separated by first crushing the products. The separation of noble metals is done by a melting process. Metals are usually chemically separated from circuit boards. Parts that can be utilized as is are mainly circuit boards, hard discs and connectors.
Separated metals, plastic and glass are mainly utilized in Finland.
Recycled materials can be used for many purposes
From materials separated from electrical and electronic waste many different kinds of products are made. From the aluminium in computer waste, for example, interference protectors are manufactured for new mobile phones. The characteristics of the metal also make it possible to return it to be used for its original purpose.
Along with the increase in the price of oil, the use of recycled plastic has also expanded from the recovery of the energy content to the production of recycled products, for example fleece clothing, car parts and refuse sacks.
From recycled glass you can manufacture for example glass wool for thermal insulation, glass bottles and packaging, window glass and sandblasting material.
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