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Computer and E-Waste Recycling
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Transcript
How Computers are Recycled
(video transcript)
Watch this video as discarded electronics and old computers are recycled to produce raw material streams of steel, plastic, copper, aluminum, and precious metals, which can be used to make new products. (2 minutes, 39 seconds)
Electronics recycling can be challenging because discarded electronic products are complex devices manufactured from varying proportions of glass, metals, and plastics. These materials then need to be processed and separated into clean commodity streams that can be used to make new products.
Resourceful production teams, trained technicians and systematic processing allows Sims Lifecycle Services to provide our customers with closed loop recycling services. This enables you to ensure environmentally responsible processing of your retired electronics while minimizing the risks of involved with handling sensitive digital data.
Efficient separation of materials is the foundation of electronics recycling. Initial shredding of equipment facilitates sorting and separation of plastics from metals and internal circuitry. As a conveyor belt transports shredded material, a powerful overhead magnet separates iron and steel from the waste stream. This separated ferrous material is collected in gaylords and prepared for sale as recycled steel.
Further mechanical processing separates aluminum, copper, and circuit boards from the material stream, which now is mostly plastic.
A visual inspection and hand sorting improves the quality of the extracted materials. The separated streams of aluminum, copper, and circuit boards are collected in gaylords, and prepared for sale as recycled commodity materials.
Using advanced separation technology, ABS plastic is separated from polystyrene plastic. This important separation step improves reuse potential in manufacturing next generation products.
Few recyclers invest in this separation technology. The final step in the separation process separates and extracts any remaining metal fragments to create as pure a stream as possible. This results in more efficient reuse of recycled materials.
Sims is uniquely positioned to meet the challenges of the electronics recycling industry. We are Sims Lifecycle Services.