UK electronics recycler to mechanically process flat screens

Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd. says it has achieved full U.K. approval from the Environment Agency and has become the world’s first recycling plant to mechanically process LCD Flat Panel Displays (flat screen televisions and monitors). The displays contain mercury and become hazardous waste when they enter the waste stream.

Electrical Waste Recycling Group gained the approval at its 100,000-square-foot, five-acre site in Huddersfield, U.K. The company notes that when processed manually, the flat screens take around 15 minutes per display to disassemble. However, the mechanical process operates at a rate of one every 6 seconds, which the company claims is faster and safer than any other process in the world.

Over the past two years two U.K.-based government agencies – DEFRA and the Environment Agency – have used the plant’s WEEE operation for training and has gained Best Available Treatment Recycling and Recovery Technique (BATRRT) approval as well as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001 accreditations.

In a press release, Keith Patterson, EWRG’s managing director, says, “We have carried out substantial trials and considering the huge performance advantages this new and unique process offers to the market we are confident that the volume our partners will deliver will warrant the significant investment. With one million units of waste flat panel display equipment entering the market per month it was an obvious route for the company.”

EWRG says that a patent is pending for the invention and the company is in discussion with other firms to recreate the process at other locations.