Investing to divert

The proliferation of electronic devices runs in common through workplaces, homes and schools in every part of the world. With a percentage of these devices reaching the end of their useful lives each day, it has created challenges and opportunities pertaining to the disposal and recycling of what the European Union calls Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).

In Europe and beyond, government agencies have paid attention to obsolete electronics, with some of them partnering with recycling companies to create systems to keep old computers and appliances out of the landfill and into a recycling process.

A Middle East hub

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Enviroserve refers to itself as “a trailblazer when it comes to electronic waste recycling in the Middle East.” The company was presented with a regional award in 2018 for its operations in Dubai and other parts of the Middle East.

Enviroserve says it started from humble beginnings of mobile phone collection with a staff of four people in 2004. Now, the recycling company has grown to more than 50 employees and eight branch offices in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.

The company was named the Electrical & Electronic Equipment Recycling Company of the Year at the 2018 Middle East Waste & Recycling Awards. It was recognized in part for partnerships it has forged with international partners Wisetek, based in Ireland, and ERI, based in California in the United States.

“On behalf of the entire Enviroserve family, both in the UAE and throughout our international operations, partners and associates, I am delighted our efforts have been recognized,” states Brian Wilkie, co-founder and chairman of the firm.

Wilkie says the award “is just the tip of the iceberg, as Enviroserve has much more in store for the recycling industry in the Middle East and Africa with the highly anticipated opening of The Recycling Hub at Dubai Industrial City set for early 2019.”

The $30 million facility is being outfitted with Swiss technology designed to yield zero waste to landfill and zero emissions. It will serve as a final destination for obsolete electronics from as far as South Africa to the south and the Caucasus region of Central Asia to the north.

Enviroserve describes The Recycling Hub as “the world’s largest fully integrated electronics recycling facility,” with a processing capacity of nearly 40 million kilograms (88 million pounds) of electronic scrap annually. Enviroserve says it also will offer brand protection, IT refurbishment and refrigerant gas reclamation services.

“In the age of data security, the importance of the ITAD [information technology asset disposition] division at The Recycling Hub cannot be understated,” says Stuart Fleming, an Enviroserve co-founder and its CEO. “Secure data destruction is so important to our clients. Our brand protection and refrigerant gas reclamation services support the needs of our customers.”

Countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region of the Middle East produce an average of 14.5 kilograms (32 pounds) of electronic scrap annually per person, according to Enviroserve.

The $30 million investment in The Recycling Hub is backed by the Swiss Government Export Finance Agency, says the firm, and the project “represents one of the largest foreign direct investments in the field of environmental management in the UAE.”

The automated facility will recycle a wide range of WEEE materials, including air conditioners, batteries, IT equipment, household appliances, military avionics and mobile phones acquired from consumer, commercial, industrial and even military sources. The plant also will recycle aerosol cans, light bulbs, and some types of expired or rejected products.

Warm reception for refrigerators

United Kingdom-based Viridor is targeting end-of-life refrigerators with a recent investment in St. Helens, U.K., in northern England.

The company sought and has retained the Europe-based WEEELABEX accreditation for the facility. Viridor says the St Helens plant was the first in the U.K. to achieve this certification in 2015, after undergoing an evaluation of its systems and processing of refrigeration treatment.

“This accreditation shows the efforts and investment the WEEE business is making in driving higher standards within the industry and with recycling and recovery rates,” says Tom Liddell, Viridor’s head of recycling and integrated WEEE assets. “These standards are continually reviewed, and for the most recent audit Viridor worked with technology partners Andritz and Herco to achieve even higher recovery levels of the air-polluting blowing agents used in fridge manufacture.”

The St Helens WEEE processing facility is home to two processing lines provided by Austria-based Andritz -MEWA. The refrigerator processing line can process 600,000 units each year while another line is capable of processing up to 50,000 metric tons of small domestic appliances each year.

Viridor calls the plant an approved authorized treatment facility (AATF), and says it originally opted to pursue accreditation to support a long-standing partnership with KMK Metals Recycling Ltd. in the Republic of Ireland.

Says Kurt Kyck of KMK, “We have been supplying fridges in large quantities from Ireland to the Viridor recycling plant in St Helens since 2003. Operating to this standard is a statement of intent and provides producers of cooling appliances with the comfort that their environmental responsibility under the WEEE Directive is being achieved and measured.”

Wayne Copley, procurement director of U.K. WEEE producer compliance scheme REPIC, says WEEELABEX auditing follows the flow of inputs and outputs through the WEEE treatment and beyond, to downstream treatment and recycling. “Viridor continues to play a significant role in the U.K. WEEE reprocessing sector, and this shows it is keeping pace with the quality expectations of U.K. and multi-national clients who want to see WEEE dealt with effectively, efficiently and sustainably.”

Efficiency and sustainability also were key measures sought by the government of Hong Kong when it established a partnership with Berlin-based ALBA Group to help handle electronic scrap in the city of more than 7 million people.

Start to finish in Hong Kong

Alba Integrated Waste Solutions (ALBA IWS) marked the official opening of its new Hong Kong WEEE Park facility for the processing and recycling of eight types of discarded appliances or computer equipment in the spring of 2018.

Sponsored Content

Shredding tough materials with a small footprint

Discover how SSI’s innovative M120 EX Dual-Shear® shredder is revolutionizing recycling with its unique stacked chamber design and SmartFeed® technology—delivering powerful, space-efficient, and adaptive shredding for hard-to-process materials like plastics, metals, and fishing nets. Watch the video and read the full article to see this next-generation shredder in real-world operations.

Sponsored Content

Shredding tough materials with a small footprint

Discover how SSI’s innovative M120 EX Dual-Shear® shredder is revolutionizing recycling with its unique stacked chamber design and SmartFeed® technology—delivering powerful, space-efficient, and adaptive shredding for hard-to-process materials like plastics, metals, and fishing nets. Watch the video and read the full article to see this next-generation shredder in real-world operations.

Sponsored Content

Shredding tough materials with a small footprint

Discover how SSI’s innovative M120 EX Dual-Shear® shredder is revolutionizing recycling with its unique stacked chamber design and SmartFeed® technology—delivering powerful, space-efficient, and adaptive shredding for hard-to-process materials like plastics, metals, and fishing nets. Watch the video and read the full article to see this next-generation shredder in real-world operations.

Sponsored Content

Shredding tough materials with a small footprint

Discover how SSI’s innovative M120 EX Dual-Shear® shredder is revolutionizing recycling with its unique stacked chamber design and SmartFeed® technology—delivering powerful, space-efficient, and adaptive shredding for hard-to-process materials like plastics, metals, and fishing nets. Watch the video and read the full article to see this next-generation shredder in real-world operations.

Sponsored Content

Shredding tough materials with a small footprint

Discover how SSI’s innovative M120 EX Dual-Shear® shredder is revolutionizing recycling with its unique stacked chamber design and SmartFeed® technology—delivering powerful, space-efficient, and adaptive shredding for hard-to-process materials like plastics, metals, and fishing nets. Watch the video and read the full article to see this next-generation shredder in real-world operations.

Sponsored Content

Shredding tough materials with a small footprint

Discover how SSI’s innovative M120 EX Dual-Shear® shredder is revolutionizing recycling with its unique stacked chamber design and SmartFeed® technology—delivering powerful, space-efficient, and adaptive shredding for hard-to-process materials like plastics, metals, and fishing nets. Watch the video and read the full article to see this next-generation shredder in real-world operations.

Sponsored Content

Shredding tough materials with a small footprint

Discover how SSI’s innovative M120 EX Dual-Shear® shredder is revolutionizing recycling with its unique stacked chamber design and SmartFeed® technology—delivering powerful, space-efficient, and adaptive shredding for hard-to-process materials like plastics, metals, and fishing nets. Watch the video and read the full article to see this next-generation shredder in real-world operations.

Sponsored Content

Shredding tough materials with a small footprint

Discover how SSI’s innovative M120 EX Dual-Shear® shredder is revolutionizing recycling with its unique stacked chamber design and SmartFeed® technology—delivering powerful, space-efficient, and adaptive shredding for hard-to-process materials like plastics, metals, and fishing nets. Watch the video and read the full article to see this next-generation shredder in real-world operations.

The 66,000-square-foot plant is the result of a joint venture between Berlin-based Alba Group and Hong Kong-based IWS that was formed in cooperation with the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Hong Kong’s government signed a 10-year contract with Alba IWS to help collect and then process discarded refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, televisions, computers, monitors, printers and scanners.

The contract and process has been regulated to include item tracking, data security and hazardous materials segregation and storage aspects. The facility includes a testing and repair center for refurbishable items, and each shredding line is preceded by dismantling stations designed to ensure the identification and collection of hazardous fluids and components.

The automated shredding and downstream sorting lines feature shredders made by German manufacturer Erdwich and a variety of magnets, screens and optical sorting units designed to produce clean ferrous and aluminum scrap, plus mixed shredded nonferrous metals and mixed shredded plastics.

Alba Group calls the Hong Kong arrangement “the largest single contract in the company’s history” and indicates that over the life of the contract it will have a value of approximately €318 million ($392 million).

“This is a milestone for more recycling in Hong Kong,” says Group Chair and CEO Dr. Axel Schweitzer. “As one of the leading recycling companies of the world, we are proud of being chosen as a partner by the Hong Kong government. For us, this is an incentive to continue supporting Hong Kong in its aim to establish professional recycling.”

The plant has been designed to process the majority of the eight “regulated” items discarded in Hong Kong, which represents an estimated 85 percent of the 70,000 metric tons of WEEE generated each year in the HKSAR. Equipment installed should be able to handle 30,000 metric tons of WEEE each year if operating on one shift, but it can accommodate 56,000 metric tons per year with additional shifts.

In addition to the construction and operation of the plant, the contract includes the development and operation of a city-wide collection system with five satellite collection centers and a fleet of trucks to be operated during the 10-year span.