Socio-economic assessment and feasibility study on - Öko-Institut eV

<strong>Socio</strong>-<strong>economic</strong> <strong>assessment</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>feasibility</strong> <strong>study</strong>
on sustainable e-waste management in Ghana
Amount
contained
in a CRT-
TV
[g/unit]
Average
material
price 2007
[US$/t]
Intrinsic
material
value
2007
[US$/unit]
Estimated
recovery
rates with
presently
applied
technology
August 2010
Estimated
recovery
rates with
best
applicable
technology
Net
material
value with
presently
applied
technology
[US$/unit]
Net
material
value with
best
applicable
technology
[US$/unit]
Silver 0.62 550,000 0.34 0% 87% 0 0.30
Gold 0.04 22,400,000 0.85 0% 93% 0 0.79
Palladium 0.02 11,488,748 0.26 0% 91% 0 0.23
Ceramics
& others
1,434 - - - - - -
Sum 29,900 13.38 7.67 9.84
* Only lead contained in the TV-board ** Prices for mixed plastic *** Partly indirectly recovered together with
other metals
With thorough manual disassembling <strong>and</strong> sorting it is estimated that 95% of steel, 88% of
aluminium <strong>and</strong> 85% of copper can be recovered. The copper recovery rate can be increased
by refining the printed wiring boards in integrated smelters.
Palladium, gold <strong>and</strong> silver are concentrated in printed wiring boards <strong>and</strong> contacts. It is
estimated that the recovery rate is equivalent to those of desktop computers (see section
4.1.4).
The recovery rates of tin, lead <strong>and</strong> nickel are difficult to determine. While tin <strong>and</strong> lead are
mainly used in solders, nickel is used in alloys. The tin <strong>and</strong> lead contained in PWBs are
recovered as by-products in integrated smelters. The nickel of alloys is recovered together
with the scrap aluminium, steel <strong>and</strong> copper to generate new products.
The comparison between the net material values of the presently applied recycling technologies
<strong>and</strong> the best applicable recycling technologies shows that revenue from recycling of one
CRT-TV could be increased from US$ 7.67 to 9.84. Nevertheless, this calculation does not
include the costs for environmentally sound management of the CRT-glass <strong>and</strong> the disposal
of the internal phosphorous coating. As sketched in chapter 4.2.3, there is an oversupply of
CRT-glass, leading to a situation where providers of the glass have to pay for its
environmentally sound end-processing. In the first half of 2010, the costs for co-processing in
copper-smelters ranged between US$ 120 <strong>and</strong> 200 per ton (Wouters 2010). Assuming an
average price of US$ 160 per ton, this would imply costs of US$ 2.73 per device. This means
that the revenues from environmentally sound recycling of CRTs are lower than the revenues
from the currently practiced recycling (declining from US$ 7.67 to 7.11) – not even taking into
account the costs for sound disposal of the phosphorous dust <strong>and</strong> possible costs for the
controlled incineration of plastics. Even if the other recommended management option for
CRT-glass is chosen, i.e. transfer to dumpsites for hazardous waste – this would imply costs,
which would partly neutralise the revenues from other fractions.
65