At the drop-off events, the fees will be as follows:

Nonprofits

Once the materials reach Seattle,Total Reclaim, Inc., sorts all of the materials for reuse or recycling.

About 10% will be reused. Reused equipment is donated to either World Computer Exchange or Digital Partners, two non-profit organizations that re-deploy usable equipment to non-governmental organizations and educational programs in the developing world.

About 90-95% (by weight) of the remaining equipment will be recycled into new products. These materials are crushed and sorted.

Glass

The video display component of most computers monitors and televisions is a cathode ray tube (CRT). The typical CRT contains 15 to 90 pounds of glass. To this glass, lead and other elements are added to protect the user from X-rays generated within the CRT. Disposal in landfills is not the most sound management option for waste CRTs because of the high quantities of lead in each screen. Glass recyclers are:

EnviroCycle, Inc. – Hallstead, PA – made back into leaded glass for monitors and TVs
All intact monitors that Envirocycle receives are inspected for the possibility of resale. All other units are dismantled. The average processing time is two weeks. Within one month, the glass cullet is back into the commerce stream as a new CRT.

Doe Run Company – Boss, MO – lead smelter
Anything that cannot be used to make new CRT glass is sent to a primary lead smelter for reuse.

Jones Quarry, Inc. – Olympia, WA – non-leaded glass

Tri-Vitro Corporation (maybe) – Kent, WA – non-leaded glass

Metals

Copper is the primary metal found in wires and cabling. These items are baled and shipped to copper smelters for copper recovery. Circuit boards are ground and shipped to copper smelters as well. The copper and small amounts of precious metals are recovered and the other circuit board material is useful for its BTU value during metal recovery. Aluminum structural pieces are baled and sold to aluminum smelters. Steel housings are baled and shipped to ferrous smelters (foundries).

Seattle Iron and Metals – Seattle, WA – copper wire recycling

Schnitzer Steel Industries - Tacoma, WA

Circuit Boards

Noranda Recycling, – San Jose, CA

Umicore Precious Metals Refining - Hoboken, Belgium

Plastics

Plastics generated from electronics waste are primarily ABS (acrybutidiene styrene) from keyboards, monitors, and CPU housings, and HIPS (high density polystyrene) from televisions. HIPS is regranulated and sold to companies that pelletize it and reuse it in injection molding to make new consumer products such as televisions, handheld computer games and similar products. ABS plastics include about seven or eight different resin types. The ABS is cleaned and baled and sent to plastics recyclers. The companies below will either use the product commingled or separate it further by resin type and pelletize it for sale to end markets. Plastics can be used for a variety of new products including plastic lumber and pallets, carpet and carpet backing,

Plastic Nation, Inc. – Boca Raton, FL

Batteries

Allied Battery – Seattle, WA – recycling the lead-acid batteries

Inmetco – Ellwood City, PA – recycling all other batteries

Other Components

Items that will be discarded include wood and phenolic laminate common in old console televisions and insulation. This is estimated to be less than 1% of the material processed.

Sponsors & Partnering Organizations

This event is not possible without the generous support of our many sponsors and donors. Stay tuned as our list of sponsors grows.

Photos courtesy of Brian Guzzetti, From the Far Corners Photography

Photos (top, left to right): Veco brings several truckloads of electronics to recycle. ~ Volunteers unload a truck. ~ Green Star staff assist Gabrielle Markel do the paperwork from the Girdwood collection effort. ~ Forklift drivers move around the collection area, loading pallets onto trucks ~ Volunteers load computers into boxes and onto pallets for transport. ~ A full pallet is weighed before loading.