What is E-waste
E-waste is a popular, obsolete electronic products nearing the end of their “useful life.” Computers, Laptops, Servers , Printers , Monitors , Mobile , Network equipments , Cable Telecommunications ,Photocopier , and fax machines are common electronic products. Many of these products can be recycled.
With the passage of the Electronic Waste Recycling Act No.9 of 2009, certain portions of the electronic waste stream are defined and the systems to recycle them will be administratively regulated beyond the universal waste rules that apply to material handling.
Electronic equipment contains metals and other materials that can be hazardous to human health and the environment if they are not properly managed by Authorized Plant for E-waste Recycling or sale to informal traders.
Cadmium – found in chip resistors, infrared detectors, and semiconductors
Cadmium can accumulate in, and negatively impact the kidneys. Cadmium is persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic. The principal exposure pathway is through respiration and through our food
Lead – found in glass panels in computer monitors and in lead soldering of printed circuit boards . Lead can cause damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, blood systems, and kidneys in humans. Lead has also been shown to have negative effects on the development of children’s brains. Lead can accumulate in the environment and have a detrimental effect on plants, animals, and humans. Consumer electronics may be responsible for 40% of the lead found in landfills. The principal pathway of concern is lead leaching from landfills and contaminating drinking water supplies.
Mercury – found in thermostats, position sensors, relays and switches (e.g., on printed circuit boards), discharge lamps, and batteries. It is also used in medical equipment, data transmission, telecommunications, and mobile phones.
When mercury makes its way into waterways, it is transformed into methylated mercury in the sediments. Methylated mercury accumulates in living organisms and travels up the food chain. Methylated mercury can cause brain damage. The principal exposure pathway is through our food.
Hexavalent Chromium or Chromium VI – can be used to protect against corrosion of untreated and galvanized steel plates
Chromium VI can damage DNA and has been linked to asthmatic bronchitis. The major pathways are through landfill leachate or from fly ash generated when materials containing Chromium VI are incinerated.
Brominated Flame Retardants – found on printed circuit boards, components such as plastic covers and cables as well as plastic covers of televisions
Although less is known about BFRs than some other contaminants of concern, research has shown that one of these flame retardants, Polybrominated Diphenylethers (PDBE) might act and an endocrine disrupter. Flame retardant Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB) may increase cancer risk to the of the digestive and lymph systems. Once released into the environment through landfill leachate and incineration they are concentrated in the food chain.
Plastic – Because manufacturers use many different types of plastic in electronic equipment, it is the most challenging to recycle. These plastics often include contaminants such as metal screws and inserts, coatings and paints, foams, and labels. Currently, plastics from electronic equipment are both difficult and costly to sort for single resin feedstocks markets and there are limited markets for the mixed plastics stream. Also, plastics can be treated with brominated flame retardants, making them harder to recycle and possibly dangerous to those exposed to them.
Additionally, electronics are made with valuable resources such as precious metals, engineered plastics, glass, and other materials—all of which require energy to manufacture. When equipment is thrown away, these resources cannot be recovered and additional pollution will be generated to manufacture new products out of virgin materials.
EERC takes security and discretion very seriously, especially when sensitive materials are acquired for recycling. Protection of our clients’ proprietary information is of utmost concern. We take the proper precautionary steps to prevent any security breaches and offer cost effective solutions for guaranteed, secure off-site hard drive data destruction services:
We will remove your hard drive from the computer and physically punch each drive through, rendering each platter absolutely destroyed, with no opportunity for reuse or data recovery.
Non-physical destruction such as low-level formatting, “deleting,” reformatting, or overwriting does not provide sufficient security. This type of destruction allows IT criminals to retrieve discarded data. Do not be fooled by other recyclers who claim to provide lower costing “data destruction”. Many of these recyclers merely “wipe-out” the data and sell the hard-drives for reuse in order to gain more profit.
EERC provides our clients a “Certificate of Destruction” to assure the release of all liabilities related to or arising from the safe collection and recycling of all electronic devices
3- Our Process
E waste recycling process followed by EERC
EERC Recycling follows a simple procedure for the safe disposal of e-waste. The following electronic waste recycling methods are being followed by EERC Recycling.
Employees that are delegated to collect e-wastes components from various sources wear protective gear. The collected equipment is then transported in accordance with the appropriate measures required for the hauling of electronic wastes.
The collected e waste is transported to the recycling facility in a safe and secure manner using a closed container vehicle. The e waste transportation vehicle will carry all the necessary forms for hazardous waste transportation and we will issue a duplicate of all the forms to the waste generator. We will make sure the loading and unloading process is smooth and hassle-free.
Upon unloading, electronic waste segregation is done based on the size and availability of components at the factory premises.
After the segregation of electronic waste, equipment like Server, Desktops, Laptops , Mobile , Photocopier, Hard Disks, Printers, Fax , Network ,etc. are dismantled separately. Our facility is equipped with the latest tools and safety systems for safe dismantling of electronic waste.
It is a fact that obtaining precious metals and minerals through recycling of E waste is much more economical than obtaining those minerals though the mining process. This helps to lessen the burden on earth’s eco system and environment to fulfill the demand for precious metals and minerals. With the help of state of the art recycling technology, we are able to reach an efficiency of recovering up to 98% of the recyclable products .
4- Certificate of Disposal