WEEE dismantling and treatment Circular Economy Offer
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Context Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), is a term used to cover all electrical and electronic equipment and its parts that have been discarded by the owner without the intent of re-use. It includes a wide range of products and can be divided into 5 categories, based on the treatment carried out by Veolia in French WEEE treatment subsidiary Triade (The EU defined 10 categories, some other entities less, there is no global agreed-upon classification). A special expertise is required for fluorescent lamps and photovoltaic panels treatment. o Big cold appliances: Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners o Big non-cold appliances: Washing / dish washing machines, o Small mixed appliances: Vacuum cleaners, microwaves, ventilation, mobile phones, etc. o Screens, monitors: TVs, monitors, laptops, notebooks, tablets, etc. o Lamps: Fluorescent lamps, high intensity discharge lamps, etc. Around 95% of WEEE collected in France is from households After disposal by the consumer, WEEE can follow different routes: Official take-back systems Disposal in mixed residual waste Collection outside official take-back systems in developed countries Informal collection and recycling in developing countries
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Context Amounts of WEEE collected in France per origin: 600 500 Industrial Domestic 400 300 200 Around 95% of WEEE collected in France is from households 100 0 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Rapport annuel des données 2014 Registre DEEE, Ademe
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Context Official take-back systems (Representing an estimated 40% in the EU, 12% in the US/Canada, 28% in China) In this case, WEEE is collected by municipalities, retailers (stores, super markets), or commercial pick-up services. They are then headed to state-of-the-art treatment facilities as presented in this document, in the objective of isolating hazardous materials and recovering valuable resources encountered in EEE. This scenario is often encountered in geographies under the requirement of national or regional WEEE legislation. Disposal in mixed residual waste (Representing an estimated 6% of WEEE in the EU) Consumers directly dispose of WEEE through the normal dustbins together with other types of household waste. Depending on the region, it can be sent to landfill or municipal solid waste incineration with a low chance of separation. This scenario leads to loss of potential resources, greenhouse gas emissions and mercury emissions and leaching of toxic metals and chemicals into the soil.
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Context Collection outside official take-back systems in developed countries WEEE is collected by individual collectors or private companies in the objective of trading it through various channels. The quantities are not systematically documented nor reported to authorities. Material can be refurbished, pre-processed for resale to refinery plants or exported to developing countries, legally or illegally. Informal collection and recycling in developing countries In developing countries there are a significant number of self-employed people engaged in the collection and recycling of WEEE. The waste is then either refurbished or manually dismantled and recycled using substandard methods. This scenario leads to environment and human health damages, and is often caused by lacking legislation, treatment standards and official recycling infrastructure. For instance, in Nigeria, 0.36 Mt of WEEE is recycled using inferior standards. Of this, it is estimated that 0.1 Mt is directly imported.
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Value proposition and levers Value proposition Upstream clients Municipal WEEE collectors, delegated commercial pick-up services or industrials. Given that WEEE treatment facilities are often put in place in the context of stringent regulatory framework, it is fundamental for this client to officially delegate the treatment of its WEEE and transfer to Veolia its responsibility. A central part of the value for the upstream client is about having an official WEEE treatment certification (ex: Triade has the WEEElabex European certification). Downstream clients Plastic compounders, metal refineries, specialized treatment facilities (for printed circuit boards, compressors, lamps, etc.). For these clients to integrate efficiently the recovered materials into their existing manufacturing processes, two main elements can be differentiating: - The purity of the recovered material. For instance, plastic compounders want effectively sorted polymers; steel refineries want defined grades of steel (typically E40). - Availability of supply over time.
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Description The WEEE dismantling offer typically consists in the separation and recovery of valuable materials encountered in WEEE and isolation of hazardous streams. The scope of work typically refers to the following: - WEEE is received from the Customer, segregated by type, at designated delivery points; - A manual pre-treatment is carried out in order to take out any irrelevant material (cables, wood, mercury-bearing appliances, etc.); - Following the type of material, an automated or mechanical chemical treatment is applied in order to separate and recover the valuable materials. Hereafter, the process is detailed for big cold appliances, small mixed appliances screens/monitors and big non cold appliances. Reception of WEEE differentiated by type Big «cold» electrodomestics Small mixed appliances Screens, monitors Big non cold appliances Moreover, professional WEEE streams can be collected in mixed categories: Professional clients often look for a treatment facility able to take in all WEEE. The stream can be further internally segregated into the 3 categories, weighted and treated via the processes used for domestic WEEE, as described above.
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Description Big «cold» electrodomestics Small mixed appliances Screens, monitors Big «non cold» appliances Manual pre-depollution Pull out cables, glass containers, thermometers, etc. Mechanical dismantling Disintegration of the unit controlled inert atmosphere (+/- 240s) Compressor Automated separation of the materials Ferrous, Non-ferrous, plastics Gas extraction Compressor gas extracted with a suction pad (CFC 40%, pentane 60%) Main recovered products are: plastics, separated by polymer type; ferrous, non-ferrous; printed circuit boards; cables
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Description Big «cold» electrodomestics Small mixed appliances Screens, monitors Big «non cold» appliances Manual pre-depollution Pull out ink cartridges, batteries, wood, etc. Mechanical dismantling Disintegration of the units Automated separation of the materials Ferrous, Non-ferrous, plastics Main recovered products are: plastics, separated by polymer type; ferrous, non-ferrous; printed circuit boards; cables
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Description Big «cold» electrodomestics Small mixed appliances Screens, monitors Big «non cold» appliances Flat screens Manual pre-depollution LCD, LED, etc. Automated flat-screen disassembly line Screens, monitors Plasma Cathode-ray screens Manual dismantling Plasma and Cathode-ray screens are manually dismantled. As for the LCD and LED screens, after a step of manual predepollution (where an operator mainly removes cables and the monitor feet), they feed the automated flat-screen disassembly line. In this line, first a robot opens the monitors and extracts the actual screens without breaking the glass. The LED screens are then manually dismantled. As for the LCD screens, they feed a second robot that extracts the mercurybearing backlights without leaks. Manual separation of the materials Lamps, PMMA, plastics, printed circuit boards, etc. Main recovered products are: plastics, separated by polymer type; ferrous, non-ferrous; printed circuit boards; cables
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Description Big «cold» electrodomestics Small mixed appliances Screens, monitors Big «non cold» appliances Big non-cold appliances can be treated through a rotary shear and fed into the small mixed appliances line or treated in a scrap car press machine.
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Regulatory frameworks 1. Is there a producer responsibility principle? 2. 3.
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Regulatory frameworks 1. Is there a producer responsibility principle? 2. 3.
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Key differentiation Our WEEE treatment and dismantling value proposition sets Veolia apart from competition: Veolia s non-degrading process allow for a high purity of recovered material In terms of recovery rates achieved, Triade treatment center near Angers is among the most efficient in France: 94% for large appliances, 91% for small appliances and 88% for screens. With a unique process capable of sorting more than ten different polymers, Triade Electronique recovers all WEEE plastics and guarantees purity rates of over 99%. The facility delivers also E40-grade steel to its clients. Veolia commits to the highest standards: WEEELABEX is a reference in the field WEEELABEX ( WEEE label of excellence ) is the acronym of a project (2009-12) co-financed by LIFE, the environmental programme of the European Community. Its objective was to design a set of standards with respect to the collection, sorting, storage, transportation, preparation for re-use, treatment, processing and disposal of all kinds of WEEE. It also put in place a process of monitoring of companies through audits conducted by auditors trained by its Office. Therefore, apart from the standards and the start-up of the new organization, the project has also resulted in proprietary audit process documents and reporting templates. Triade s facility in Angers is currently in the process to obtain this standard.
WEEE dismantling and treatment - R&D projects and other developments 1. Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) treatment In Rödental, Germany, there is a pilot printed circuit board treatment facility. The facility currently treats 20t/year and the next planned ramp-up will allow the teams to treat 80 t/year. Hereafter are presented the main characteristics of the plant. Extraction of Pb,Sn and Zn-rich fraction Sourcing: o Cost: Veolia pays an average X /kg. Very variable (Z /T for some memory cards and Y /kg for some radar production scrap) o Characteristics: In average rather rich in gold (300 g/t) o Providers: External traders, WEEE recyclers, social enterprises, German and foreign industrials. Industrials provide end-of-life material and production scrap. PCB inflow Pre-sorting De-surfacing/ Electrolysis Shredding and separation Anode preparation Electrolysis Hydrometallurgy Treatment and analysis Valorization: o Material recovered: Fe, non-ferrous, Cu, Au, Pg, Pt, Pd, Rh and Zn oxides Anode moulding
WEEE dismantling and treatment - References 5 Operating Sites Gonesse Triade s flagship site, Angers Saint-Priest Rousset Montpellier
WEEE dismantling and treatment - References Triade s flagship site, Angers In this site, Triade treats over 54 kt of WEEE (with the authorization for 80 kt/year), segregated in 4 categories: - Big cold appliances: 15 kt - Small mixed appliances: 20-22 kt/year - Big non-cold appliances: Variable quantities, mainly professional clients, shredded before feeding the small mixed appliances treatment line With its innovating dismantling and sorting processes, the facility allows: - 94% valorisation for big electrodomestics - 91% valorisation for small electrodomestics - 88% valorisation for screens
WEEE dismantling and treatment - References Four treatment sites in USA Port Washington 4587 kt Stoughton 6999 kt Tallahassee 1602 kt Phoenix 4762 kt
WEEE dismantling and treatment - References Clients: Mainly Industrial because concerned by an EPA-administrated regulation - PCBs: National Landfil ban - Mercury: National Landfill ban for highly PCB-concentrated ballasts (above 1,4kg). Others can be stored in Class-2 landfills. Some states forbid landfilling in all cases. Consumer electronics represent less than 10% of revenue. Avoided by ERD (see below)
Annexes
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Context Different types of material can be encountered in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Proportions (in weight) of materials per type of WEEE Equipment category Ferrous metals (%) Non-ferrous metals (%) Glass (%) Plastics (%) Other (%) Large household appliances 61 7 3 9 21 Small household appliances 19 1 0 48 32 IT equipment 43 0 4 30 20 Telecom 13 7 0 74 6 TV, Radio, etc. 11 2 35 31 22 Recycling of WEEE plastics: a review, Buekens & Yang, 2014
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Context Plastics The key plastics include ABS, PC, PS, PPS, PE, PP, PU, etc. o Screens, monitors: 15% plastics (80% HIPS, 3% ABS, 3% ABS/PC, etc.) o Big appliances: 10% plastics o Small mixed appliances: 30% plastics (ABS, ABS/PC, PS, PP, PC)
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Context Other Rare metals and earths: Cu, Au, Pg, Pt, Pd, Rh and Zn oxides Hazardous material: Mercury, Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), etc
WEEE dismantling and treatment - Context Product Ferrous (iron, steel) Non-ferrous (Al, Cu) Printed Circuit Board Plastics 1 Other (incl. Glass) Small Appliances 1 19% 1% No data 48% (PP, ABS-SANS, PC) CRT TV (29 ) 2 9% 5% 6% 12% 68% LCD TV 2 (32, CCFL) 24% 2% PWB: 6% (Electronics: 10%) LCD TV 3 (32, LED) 5% 54% 5% CRT Monitor (17 ) 4 1% 1% 2% Desktop 4 66% 9% Laptop 4 (15 display) 17% 8% PWB: 2% (Electronics: 14%) PWB: 3% (Electronics: 12%) Printers 5 21% 3% 5% Tablet 6 IT equipment 20% (PPE-PS, PC-ABS) 24% (PMMA, PET) 15% (ABS, PA, EPS) 11% (ABS, PC-ABS) 30% (ABS, PC-ABS) Al case 0% 19% 9% 4% Plastic case 1% 5% 8% Smart phone 52% (PS, HPS) 14% (not identified) All case (IPhone 6) 7 18% 19% 8% 7% Plastic case (Galaxy S5) 8 10% (estimate) No data 8% 13% (PC) 480 45% 12% 69% <1% Display: 15% Battery: 17% 18% Other: 4% (both) Battery: 26% Display: 39% Battery: 22% Display: 46% Battery: 20% Display: 36% Battery: 28% Dsiplay: 41%