Transcript Intro

Exporting E-scrap:
Do we have a choice?
FACTS
everybody is aware of the volume of e-scrap generated…..
– approx. 250M computers will be discarded in 20072008 worldwide
– according to the UNEP – the world generates 20 to
50M tons of e-scrap per year
– according to the U.S. EPA, an estimated 30 to 40
million PCs will be ready for "end-of-life management"
in each of the next few years.
– the volume of unused electronic gear that sits in
storage is about 180 million TVs, desktop PCs, and
other components as of 2005, according to the EPA
FACTS
e-scrap generation…
- digital HDTV broadcasts are scheduled to be completed
by 2009, rendering inoperable TVs that function perfectly
today
- Moore’s Law - computer processing power roughly
doubles every two years, thus at any given time, all the
machines considered state-of-the-art are simultaneously
on the verge of obsolescence
- EPA estimates that in 2005, between 1.5 and 1.9 million
tons of computers, TVs, VCRs, monitors, cell phones, and
other equipment were discarded
- 200 million TVs will be discarded between 2003 and 2010
- 9% - annual growth rate of worldwide market for e-scrap
FACTS
…..e-scrap ends up…….
- In the US, 70 percent of discarded computers
and monitors, and well over 80 percent of TVs,
eventually end up in landfills
- discarded electronics account for approximately
70% of heavy metals and 40% of the lead found
in U.S. landfills according to a 2001 EPA report
- In 2005, less than 20 percent of e-waste
entering the solid waste stream was recycled Bob
Tonetti, EPA
- between 2-4 million tons of e-waste from the US
end up overseas for low tech recycling each
year
FACTS
…e-scrap ends up….
- e-scrap are exported under the guise of reuse in
developing countries – ¾ actually non-working
- exports have shifted to African countries, India, Pakistan
and Southeast Asia after China became restrictive
…and this leads to…
- in China, air near some e-scrap processing operations
that remain open contain the highest amounts of dioxin
measured anywhere in the world
- elevated blood lead levels of children in Guiyu, an
electronic waste recycling town in China
FACTS
resource consumption in e-scrap
• 36% of copper produced in the world goes to electrical
and electronic equipment (German Metal Industry Association estimate in 2007)
• Only 12% of total copper production comes from
recycled copper (EU – 23%) 2005 data
• Metals in Printed circuit boards contain 10X the
concentration of precious metals from content-rich
minerals
• 28% - metal content of printed circuit boards –copper,
lead and tin (Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s School of Environmental Science and
Engineering)
• Average copper content of ore is 0.6% in 1995, down
from 3.6% in 1905 (US Bureau of mines)
FACTS
• 90% of the average desktop is made of reclaimable
copper, aluminum, iron, steel, and plastics
• copper comprises 3% of television sets and 12% steel
• recycling gold from old computer motherboards is far
more efficient and less environmentally destructive than
ripping it from the earth, often by surface-mining that
imperils pristine rain forests -High Tech Trash, Nick Carroll, 2007
• approximately 20 percent of CRTs are comprised of
lead, equivalent to between four and eight pounds per
unit
Metal Consumption
(PCs and Cellphones)
Metal
Production
(tons/year)
Metal Consumption
PCs and Laptops
Cellphones
230M Units
1000M Units
% to Annual
Production
Ag
20,000
1000mg/unit =230MT
250mg/unit =250MT
2%
Au
2,500
200mg/unit = 46MT
24mg/unit = 24MT
3%
Pd
215
80mg/unit = 18MT
Cu
15,000,000
500g/unit = 115,000MT
9mg/unit =
9MT
9g/unit = 9,000MT
13%
1%
Reality
…with all these facts we also know….
• software upgrades, new devices and
technological advancements will continue
- more raw materials will be consumed
- more e-scrap will be generated
• e-scrap trade will continue
– as some countries become restrictive, new markets
will open due to economics
– these new markets will employ primitive processes
exposing people and the environment to toxic
materials
What Goes Around Comes Around
"The U.S. right now is shipping large quantities of
leaded materials to China, and China is the
world's major manufacturing center," Jeffrey
Weidenhamer (a chemist at Ashland University)
says. "It's not all that surprising things are
coming full circle and now we're getting
contaminated products back.“ – after analyzing
China-made cheap jewelry bought from a dollar
store
our dilemmas are…….
• avoiding pollution (or avoiding
the export of pollution)
• resource conservation
The 2 concerns are intertwined
Resource conservation – through
recycling, less minerals mined and
oil extracted
But – constrained because of the
fear of exporting pollution to
developing countries
CHALLENGES
• the recycling of all materials back into
nature or the marketplace in a manner that
protects human health and the
environment. (zero waste)
• reducing our carbon footprint in the
manufacture of products
E-SCRAP MECHANICAL PROCESS
Sort
Pull Components
(Toxic or High Value)
Shred & Magnetic
Separation
Non-magnetic
Precious Metal
Recovery
Sort/Separation
Plastics
Landfill
Ferrous
(Magnetic)
Aluminum/
Non-ferrous
Resale
Resale
Material
Component
Product
DESKTOP DISASSEMBLY TREE
Desktop Computer
12kgs
Power Supply
1.20kgs
CD Rom
0.50kg
Floppy Drive
0.50kg
Steel Scrap
7.0kgs
32 mins.
Hard Drive
0.50kg
Hi-Grade PWB
0.90kg
Wires/Cables
0.90kg
Chips/ICs
Memory Chips
Processor
Plastic
0.50kg
Labor cost to disassemble – US$0.37
HARD DRIVE DISASSEMBLY TREE
Component
Hard Drive
0.50kgs
Material
Hi Grade PWB
0.05kg
Mixed Material
0.13kg
Magnets
0.08kgs
10 mins.
Head Stock Assy
(acctd in mixed matl)
Aluminum
0.15kg
Au/Steel Mix
0.08kg
Scrap
0.01kg
Labor cost to disassemble – US$0.12
FLOPPY DRIVE DISASSEMBLY TREE
Component
Floppy Drive
0.50kgs
Material
Low Grade PWB
0.17kg
Steel
0.16kgs
Aluminum
0.10kg
Tap
0.02kg
Plastic
0.01kg
5 mins.
Copper Coil
0.03
Scrap
0.01kg
Labor cost to disassemble – US$0.06
POWER SUPPLY DISASSEMBLY TREE
Component
Power Supply
1.2kgs
Wires
0.16kg
5 mins.
Low Grade PWB
0.44kg
Material
Copper Ring
0.10kgs
Steel
0.60kgs
3 mins.
Transformer
0.05kg
Aluminum
Heatsink
0.04kg
Labor cost to disassemble – US$0.06
Stripped
Low Grade PWB
0.25kg
Product
CRT DISASSEMBLY TREE
3 mins.
Component
Wires/Cables
0.46kg
Monitor
12kgs
12 mins.
Low Grade
PWB
1.30kgs
Transformer
0.05kg
37 mins.
Deflection Coil
0.58kg
Low Grade
PWB Stripped
1.20kgs
Thick Wire
0.10kg
5 mins.
CRT Screen
Complete
8.50kgs
Electron Gun,
Getterpil, CRT Glass
0.03kg
Material
Electron Gun
0.027kg
Plastic Casing
1.90kgs
Mixed Metals
1.00kg
Aluminum
Heatsink
0.23kg
Mixed Scrap
0.35kg
Wire/Copper
0.41kg
Labor cost to disassemble – US$0.43
1 min.
4 mins.
Getterpil
0.003kg
CRT Glass
8.47kgs
Material
Component
Product
PRINTER DISASSEMBLY TREE
Printer
6.53kgs
Toner Cartridge
0.07kg
Steel
1.30kgs
Mixed Wiring
0.20kg
38 mins.
Hi Grade PWB
0.66kgs
Steel/Plastic
Mix
3.00kg
Plastic
1.30kgs
Labor cost to disassemble – US$0.44
MANUAL PRE-PROCESSING
In a study conducted in 2007 by a student of the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology
- strength of the Chinese e-scrap recycling system is the
efficient manual preprocessing that results to a high material
recovery rate
- primitive and hazardous processes are employed during
actual recovery of complex materials
- study shows that recycling percentages increase from 70% to
84% when the complete manual-dismantling scenario is
compared with shredding
- partial dismantling of the desktop PC into its main sub
assemblies such as drivers, main boards and casing shows
the recycling rate of 79%
- study concludes that high level manual dismantling is
economically and environmentally preferable to a mechanical
pre-processing under Chinese settings
- but, best available technology (BAT) should be employed in
recovery of materials
Optimal Process for e-scrap
Recovery
Collection
Sorting/
Segregation
Mechanical
Processing
Smelting/
Refining
70%
Mechanical Processing
Recovery
Collection
Sorting/
Segregation
Manual
PreProcessing
Mechanical
Processing
Manual pre-processing
Smelting/ 79-84%
Refining
Economic Benefits
Material Revenue - Whole PCs
Desktop PC (shredded)
Power Supply
CD Rom
Floppy Disk
Hard Drive
Hi Grade PCB
Wires/Cables
Steel Case
Plastic
Total
kgs
12.0
1.3
0.5
0.5
0,5
0.9
0.9
7.0
0.5
Mechanical
Process
US$4.00
US$4.00
Manual
Disassembly
US$0.65
0.07
0.07
0.40
4.50
1.62
1.89
0.10
US$9.30
Resource Conservation
Recovery from 30million PCs
Plastics
Recovery of metals
(70%-79%)
Total Incremental Materials Recovered
Mechanical
Process
0
231,000 tons
Manual
Disassembly
15,000 tons
260,000 tons
44,000 tons
Assuming 20% of incremental metal is copper
Copper not needing to be mined
At today’s value
At mine yields of 0.6%, this is equiv to ore
5,800 tons
US$ 40.6M
967,000 tons
Resource Conservation
Recovery from 30million CRTs
Manual
Disassembly
Recovered Materials
Copper
Lead
Silver
Gold
Palladium
Total Materials Recovered
Approximate Value
18,000 tons
81,000 tons
168 tons
12 tons
6 tons
99,186 tons
US$224M
Physical Infrastructure
Basic requirements
for manual pre-processing
• space – 1.5X cheaper
• labor – 14X to15X cheaper
• tools – readily available
Legal Framework
• US EPA does not classify e-scrap as hazardous
thus exportation not controlled
• most Asian countries restrict imports
– some countries require notification
– some countries allow importation for recovery
(Thailand, Philippines, Singapore)
– importation generally allowed for reuse
• China disallows imports but misdeclaration is
rampant
• though laws are in place, loopholes still abound
due to weak enforcement and corruption
Export vs Domestic Processing
Export (pros)
– resource conservation
• recovery of plastics
• more metals recovered
• low value metals may be recovered
– opportunity for employment
– cleaner fractions
• less processing costs
– economic benefits for exporter and processor
• flush out stored e-scrap
Export vs Domestic Processing
Export (pros)
– encourages reuse of components
• diminished demand for new products and their
commensurate requirement for virgin raw materials
• less use of water and electricity for manufacturing
new products
• less packaging per unit
• availability of technology to wider swaths of society
– diminished use of landfills
• minimized leaching of toxic substances
Export vs Domestic Processing
Export (cons)
– improper, primitive processes
• contamination of the environment
• exposure of people and communities to toxic and hazardous
materials
• safety issues
– exploitation of workforce
– additional costs
• labor
• freight/transport
–
–
–
–
difficulty of control/monitor
longer leadtimes
contaminated products get to the US domestic market
legal restrictions/bureaucracy
Export vs Domestic Processing
Domestic (pros)
- quicker turn-around
- ease of monitoring and control
- less potential liability
- lesser environmental risks
- safer and healthier processes
- less chances of contaminated products
entering the domestic market
- peace of mind
Export vs Domestic Processing
Domestic (cons)
- values are not maximized
- higher processing costs at smelters
- lesser materials are recovered
- plastics – practically nil
- will not maximize resource conservation
- zero-waste can never be achieved
- with minimal economic benefits, stored e-scrap will be
difficult to flush out
- more e-scrap end up in landfills
CONCLUSION
• Do we really have a choice? No. We
have to do something to be able to recover
more metals and plastics from e-scrap.
• There is no other way but to include in the
recovery equation manual pre-processing
• There are no other places to do this but in
developing nations where labor is cheap
• Metal recovery may be done in Europe,
Japan or Korea (developed nations)
CONCLUSION
HOW????
• government to government initiatives
• If manufacturers can set up in Asia and other developing
nations, why can’t recyclers?
• Exporters should be aware of the processes employed
by those receiving their e-scrap
• no compromise between health and safety of workers
and maximizing recovery of materials
• more studies need to be conducted on maximizing
recovery and reducing environmental impact of recycling
activities
• call to action
– accredit/audit qualified overseas recycler?
– anything as long as pollution is not exported and resources are
conserved
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