It’s common in the e-waste industry to describe recycling capability at around 90-95%. But with less than 20% of e-waste recycled globally (globalewaste.org), , these numbers don’t quite add up. In this blog, we pull back the curtain on why most e-waste ends up in landfill and explain how our solution has reached “up to 100%” resource recovery.
While most people know that old electronics shouldn’t go in the general waste bin, not much is known about what happens beyond the recycling drop off point. It’s a concept full of best intentions that often fails on delivery. The truth is, most materials in e-waste can be recycled – but whether that’s achieved depends on the sophistication of recycling methods, the materials that make up each device, and how those materials are bound together in the manufacturing process.
It would be naïve of any e-waste recycler to guarantee a recovery rate when there’s no assurance of what materials are coming through the door. However, we can still examine how effective each method is when it comes to separating devices into their individual commodity parts.
Currently, Australia’s e-waste solutions include:
- Collectors/Up-cyclers: These services collect, sort and dismantle e-waste into separate parts and sell the material to recyclers or refurbish computers / IT equipment for resale. Printed circuit boards are the most highly sought after for their resale value, while most of the remaining material goes to landfill.
- Ferrous Recyclers: These recyclers collect scrap metal which is then shredded and separated between ferrous (containing iron) and non-ferrous (not containing iron) materials. The non-ferrous materials are more challenging to separate, so are sold to more sophisticated recyclers. Meanwhile, the ferrous materials are melted down through high-emissions smelting methods for resale, commonly sold to the metal fabrication industry.
- Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Recyclers: These recyclers process ferrous materials such as steel and cast iron and non-ferrous materials such as aluminium, copper, and lead for recycling. Once the ferrous and non-ferrous metals are separated, the non-ferrous metals are broken down into their individual commodities for resale.
- Furnace Based Precious Metal Refiners: These recyclers separate gold and silver from metals and alloys through an emissions-heavy smelting process. Once the precious metals are refined, the pure commodities such as gold and silver can be resold into the market. However, these methods cannot separate all platinum group metals and the low value commodities are either thrown away or passed on to other recycling channels.
- Next Gen Precious Metal Refiners: These more sophisticated recyclers use modern techniques to separate most precious metals, platinum group metals and rare earths from metals and alloys. The purified commodity is then resold into the market for reuse.
The more sophisticated the method, the fewer available solutions. Currently, only a small number of international recyclers are refining precious metals. In Australia, it’s mostly up-cycling, ferrous and non-ferrous recycling. After the most valuable materials are extracted, it’s up to the recycler whether they send the remaining material downstream for further processing… or to landfill. Considering over 80% of e-waste goes to landfill globally, we think we know which is the road less travelled.
And then there’s Sircel…
Our Founders want to see a future where e-waste means no waste at all. So, we developed an end-to-end solution designed to recover every recyclable commodity in e-waste. Our world-leading solution tracks each material from the moment the e-waste enters our system right to the point of being returned to the circular economy as a raw commodity.
Creating an automated, in-house solution allows us to provide accurate recovery rates – so why do we say “up to 100%” diversion from landfill? Our technology can recover each recyclable component of e-waste, but some devices come with non-recyclable materials, such as speaker systems and television frames that are made with treated timber. While the exact percentage we recover is dependent on the device, our end-to-end process is committed to ensuring there’s no waste at all.
The easy way isn’t our way. Our solution views all e-waste components as a critical resource for tomorrow.
Better for business, better for the community, and better for the planet.
To become part of the most effective solution to the global e-waste problem, contact us today via hello@sircel.com.
