At eCycle Solutions, a Canadian recycling company, incoming pallets of product are identified and scaled, with a barcode label affixed to each, providing weight and product information. Depending on the type of material, it goes through a manual separation process, or a combination of manual and mechanical separation.
Secondary Processing: Clean material is then sent to other operations for further processing. Some of that material, such as copper, may generate revenue for the recycler, while other material, such as glass, the recycler will have to pay to have properly processed. One approach to the further liberation of materials is the use of shredding machinery, which tears apart electronic scrap to facilitate liberation of materials. Material extraction is aided by a number of sorting technologies including magnets, vibration, optical devices and eddy currents. At eCycle, the company operates primary recycling operations in five provinces, but directs applicable material to two sites that have shredding equipment, thereby enjoying better utilization of expensive shredding and sortation machinery at those two locations.
Electronics recycling is definitely a growth industry, but as in many other industries, managing regulatory requirements is increasingly becoming one of the keys to success.
