Clean work: How does eRecycling actually work?
Learn everything about the multi-stage recycling process of electrical appliances in a three-part film series.
eRecycling, i.e. the recycling of electrical and electronic appliances, is a brilliant thing! It's easy to take your broken fridge, espresso machine or floor lamp to the collection point - and what's left over after recycling are many valuable raw materials, such as iron, copper, aluminium or even gold. And the pollutants? Cleanly disposed of!
How is that possible? What are the most important steps and which technical processes are used in eRecycling? To explain the multi-stage recycling process to you step by step, we have produced a three-part film series. Our tip: be sure to watch!
Episode 1: Disposing of electrical appliances correctly
At the very beginning of the recycling process, we are all challenged, including you. Because logically, if electrical appliances are not disposed of properly, they cannot be recycled in an environmentally friendly way. It is therefore important that defective appliances - no matter how small they are - are not thrown into the household waste, but handed in at the designated return points.
Episode 2: Safely remove harmful substances
Once the e-waste has been received at the drop-off points, sorted and packed in the correct containers, it is taken from there to a specialised recycling company based in Switzerland.
The first thing this company has to do is take care of any pollutants contained in the appliances. In a first step, the components and materials containing pollutants are dismantled by hand. However, not all pollutants are removed by hand. There are also those that are removed by machine. In the case of refrigerators, for example, special systems operating with negative pressure are used to extract any CFCs that may be contained in the coolant.
Episode 3: Reusing recyclable materials
Once all pollutants have been removed from the appliances - and in a way that does not harm people or the environment - the next step is to recover valuable raw materials, thus closing the material cycle as best as possible. In order to recover the various recyclable materials with as little loss as possible, state-of-the-art separation technology is used. Innovative and high-performance sorting and processing techniques are used.
After the pollutant-free e-waste has been mechanically shredded in several stages, it is broken down and ballasted in the mechanical fine separation by the impact mill. The subsequent screening creates the prerequisite for separating metals and plastics. This ensures that metal and plastic fractions are returned to the material cycle in as pure a form as possible, where they are reused as secondary raw materials for the manufacture of new products.