E Waste
E Waste
E Waste
WHAT IS E-WASTE?
E-waste is a popular, informal name for electronic products
nearing the end of their "useful life."
Common electronic products include:
• Televisions and Monitors
• Computers
• Computer Peripherals
• Audio/Stereo Equipment
• VCRs
• DVD Players
• Video Cameras
• Telephones
• Fax and Copy Machines
• Cellular Phones
• Wireless Devices
• Video Game Console
DEFINATION :
"Electronic waste" may be defined as all
secondary computers, entertainment
device electronics, mobile phones, and other items such
as TVs and refrigerators, whether sold, donated, or
discarded by their original owners. This definition includes
used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale,
salvage, recycling, or disposal. Others define the reusables
(working and repairable electronics) and secondary scrap
(copper, steel, plastic, etc.) to be "commodities", and reserve
the term "waste" for residue or material which was
represented as working or repairable but which is dumped or
disposed or discarded by the buyer rather than recycled,
including residue from reuse and recycling operations.
Because loads of surplus electronics are frequently
commingled (good, recyclable, and non-recyclable), several
public policy advocates apply the term "e-waste" broadly to
all surplus electronics. The United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) refers to obsolete computers under
the term "hazardous household waste".
Debate continues over the distinction between "commodity"
and "waste" electronics definitions. Some exporters may
deliberately leave difficult-to-spot obsolete or non-working
equipment mixed in loads of working equipment.
Protectionists may broaden the definition of "waste"
electronics. The high value of the computer recycling subset
of electronic waste can help pay the cost of transportation for
a large number of worthless "commodities".
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES :
PROCESSING TECHNIQUES :
In developed countries, electronic waste processing usually
first involves dismantling the equipment into various parts
(metal frames, power supplies, circuit boards, plastics), often
by hand.
In an alternative bulk system, a hopper conveys material for
shredding into a sophisticated mechanical separator, with
screening and granulating machines to separate constituent
metal and plastic fractions, which are sold to smelters or
plastics recyclers. Such recycling machinery is enclosed and
employs a dust collection system. Most of the emissions are
caught by scrubbers and screens. Magnets, eddy currents,
and trammel screens are employed to separate glass,
plastic, and ferrous and nonferrous metals, which can then
be further separated at smelter. Leaded glass from CRTs is
reused in car batteries, ammunition, and lead wheel
weights, or sold to foundries as a fluxing agent in processing
raw lead ore. Copper, gold, palladium, silver, and tin are
valuable metals sold to smelters for recycling. Hazardous
smoke and gases are captured, contained, and treated to
mitigate environmental threat. These methods allow for safe
reclamation of all valuable computer construction
materials. Hewlett-Packard product recycling solutions
manager Renee St. Denis describes its process as: "We
move them through giant shredders about 30 feet tall and it
shreds everything into pieces about the size of a quarter.
Once your disk drive is shredded into pieces about this big,
it's hard to get the data off."
An ideal electronic waste recycling plant combines
dismantling for component recovery with increased cost-
effective processing of bulk electronic waste.
CONCLUSIONS :
STD : F.Y.B.M.S.
ROLL NO. : 40
TOPIC : E-WASTE