The Entrepreneur's Guide to Computer Recycling - e-Waste. This ...

Entrepreneur’s Guide to Computer Recyclingthe most appropriate companies to treat and recover the batches of homogeneousmaterials resulting from the dismantling operation. He must findcompanies that offer economical and ecological advantages.CPlasticsOPERATIONAL STAGES | DISMANTLINGTo reduce logistics costs, once plastic has been extracted, it is possibleto reduce volumes by using tools such as a mechanical press or shearsfor iron or balers for plastics and master cartons. This can be secondhandequipment. For larger volumes, it is possible to use comminuting machinessuch as pelletizers. After identification and homogenization, plastic will besent for recovery in the form of plastic batches weighing about 150 kg.This operation requires neither specific skills nor expensive equipment.The operation is interesting for the recycler as it generates homogeneousmaterials that can be negotiated with scrap dealers and industrial traders.Even though there is a plastic recovery market, it is hindered by a numberof obstacles. First, recovery is complicated by the presence of flameretardants (bromine) in plastics which are therefore non-homogeneous.Then, the presence of labels and metal pieces reduces the homogeneityof plastic batches. And finally, plastic recovery requires large quantitiesof homogeneous plastics to be a profitable activity. Therefore, it is in theentrepreneur’s interest to carefully carry out the dismantling operation, toform high quality batches of homogeneous plastics that will be sold at thebest prices to industries.Metals68To maximize profits, it is in the entrepreneur’s interest to sell metal batcheswhich are as homogeneous as possible. The iron in the structure of the CUrepresents the largest quantity of metal used in a computer. It can be soldto iron and steel industries or to scrap dealers. Computer equipment alsocontains non-ferrous metals, such as copper (up to 1.5 kg) and aluminium,or lead and pewter in smaller quantities. However, these metals are oftenmixed to form other components, such as printed circuits. In these cases,the separation of these metals requires advanced technologies.