There is no shortage of issues facing electronics recyclers, ranging from the rapidly changing nature of computing and communication devices to how to navigate laws and regulations. Presenters at the 2015 Electronics Recycling Asia event, held in Singapore in mid-November, touched on several critical issues the sector is confronting.
Steve Skurnac, the global president of Sims Recycling Solutions, pointed to the lack of end markets for cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors and televisions as an ongoing problem.
In places where recyclers can collect a fee from the government for taking in CRTs, this has led to the problem of stockpiling and abandonment of TVs and monitors. Unscrupulous or financially strapped recyclers may “extract the most valuable components and the rest is left in warehouses, abandoned,” said Skurnac of a situation that has occurred several times in the United States.
The miniaturization of devices may affect the future of programs such as the one in California, where display devices in particular have been targeted for collection and the system pays out by weight of material collected. That state’s figures show the weight of material collected peaked in 2012, as TVs and computers have become lighter and have moved away from the CRT design.
“The trend toward miniaturization will eventually lead to a dip in volume,” predicted Thierry van Kerckhoven of Belgium-based Umicore Precious Metals Refining regarding an issue that will be faced by his company and others.
No matter how many times a device or component may be refurbished or reused, smelting and refining processes are a genuine end-of-life outcome for a large fraction of the WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) material stream, van Kerckhoven also said.
He urged recyclers in Asia and around the world to deal with smelting and refining facilities that fully comply with the strictest environmental standards. Umicore is one of five smelting companies that has attained EERA (European Electronics Recyclers Association)/Eurometaux certification for its process. “It can be a means to identify quality operators—a kind of assurance” that environmental standards are being met, van Kerckhoven said of the certification.
Preventing the deceptive remarketing of semi-conductor microchips is a problem contended with by semi-conductor makers such as Germany-based Infineon Technologies.
Jason Teo, who works from Infineon’s Singapore office, said he is trying to raise awareness with recyclers engaged in the refurbishing and dismantling process of the widespread nature of the practice, as well as the potential harm.
Used semiconductors that are sold as new are sold through “fly-by-night shell companies, often on the Internet,” said Teo. The practice can be dangerous when such chips are placed “in your power plant, car or airplane,” Teo remarked. “The consequences could be unimaginable.”
Teo said Infineon and other manufacturers are working to collect information when such falsely represented chips are discovered and to then work with law enforcement agencies at the point of origin.
Electronics Recycling Asia 2015 was organized by Switzerland-based ICM AG and held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore Nov. 10-13.