E-waste recycling can form a complete industry

While the information technology revolution has brought significant progress to human society, it has also placed the issue of e-waste in the world. Science Newsweek published statistics at the end of the last century. Only 1 million PCs are phased out in the UK every year. At that time, discarded floppy disks discarded the world and were added together every 21 seconds. *Can form a 110-story “skyscraper”.
If these e-wastes are turned into waste, their economic and environmental value should not be underestimated. The recycling of metal raw materials such as aluminum, iron, copper and zinc can bring considerable profits. In the case of aluminium, the energy used to recover it is only 5% of the energy consumed to produce it through mining.

In the UK, the recycling and recycling of used electronics has formed a complete chain and has become an important industry in the circular economy. Some companies also link electronic recycling of waste and charitable activities to achieve economic and social benefits “double harvest”. (“Banyuetan”, 2013, Issue 6)

Commercial power electronics recycling

“Til **” is a typical example of many electronics recycling companies in the UK. The company has been established for nearly 10 years and is mainly engaged in the recycling business of used monitors and laptops.

The company's workflow for handling used equipment is very tight. The first thing to do is to assess the damage to the electronics and test whether they are still effective. Then, the computer memory with usage value is cleared to ensure that the original owner information does not flow out and that the new owner can use it safely in the future. Afterwards, these sorting devices are sold through shopping websites. In addition, some equipment will be made available to relevant agencies for new purposes.

According to the company's head, they provide 240 fully equipped computers every month to a charity called “Computer Aid”. Through the organization, some computers were provided to children in Rwanda, Nigeria and other countries.

In the UK, there is no company like Thiel. “Computer-aided” organisations receive millions of computers in the UK every year and their practices are conducive to the development of popular science education.

The UK is one of the ** companies carrying out second-hand mobile phone recycling. As early as 2002, the * Used Mobile Phone Recycling Program was launched. Founded in 2004, “Fonebak” Mobile Phone Recycling is currently a mobile phone repair and recycling company in the UK. It has offices and mobile phone processing agencies in countries such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands to carry out mobile phone recycling and refurbishment business.

The company provides a very convenient channel for recycling mobile phones. The company has signed agreements with communications network operators such as Vodafone to set up tens of thousands of old mobile phone collection points in its business offices and provide free old mobile mail services through the business offices of mobile phone sales companies so that customers can buy new phones. After “doing it”, the old phone will be posted to the “Fonebak” recycling center. In addition, Fonebak is working with more than 600 charities and community groups to help collect old mobile phones. In recent years, the company has also launched an online business, providing customers with online services such as assessing the value of mobile phones.

For older phones that are less than a year and a half old, “Fonebak” are usually refurbished and cost about half the price of a new phone. The company offers a half-year quality guarantee for refurbished phones. This mobile phone is very popular among consumers due to its high cost-effectiveness and quality assurance.

For phones that have no refurbishment value, “Fonebak” will disassemble it and make every part and every raw material good. For example, metal-containing plastic parts are sent to special processing plants for combustion, and the heat energy generated is used for local rural heating; after combustion, metal materials such as platinum, gold, silver, and copper are extracted and sent to professional companies for processing; plastic parts are crushed and used to make road traffic signs, toys, etc.; mobile phone batteries are sent to special factories for processing, and lithium and nickel are recycled, such as for frying pans Nickel for iron and new battery.

“Environmental Crime ”

In the UK, the government has banned the disposal of toxic, unstable and dangerous waste, and waste disposal costs are soaring. Due to strong demand for some used appliances, e-waste and used goods tend to be blue light.