How Switzerland Is Winning The Battle Against E-waste - Part 2

Despite the fact that the Swiss system can be considered a role model for e-waste recycling management, it faces the same worldwide challenges as every country. 

While working in lithium-particle batteries pose a critical danger to those taking care of the merchandise, the best way to remove these potentially dangerous components is with a bar and hammer. All things considered, it is the manufacturers' responsibility to make the process easier and safer, he says. E-waste Collection Centres In Bangalore.

"Producers need to be more transparent and indicate better, where the unsafe substances are, and how they can be removed," Stengele said. 

Recycling challenge #2 – processing the material 

Once the battery is removed, e-waste is sorted, shredded, and separated into its different component parts – metals, plastics, glass, and other materials. 

Around 70 percent of the device can be recycled. "It tends to be lower, it very well may be higher, of course, depending on the equipment," said Heinz Böni, Head CARE (Basic Materials and Resource Efficiency) bunch at Empa, a material research institute in St. Gallen and Eastern Switzerland. 

Related: Why we need a new roundabout economy for electronics 

"Mobile phones — from a material perspective, from a value perspective, and furthermore from an environmental effect perspective — are very significant, because when you can recover gold or silver or palladium, which you don't have to get from essential mines, you would you be able to can reduce a ton of environmental effect of essential mining," he said. 

The material that can't be recycled is used for other purposes like development material or is burned to generate energy – yet this presents an extra challenge. E-waste Collection Centres In Bangalore.

"Different materials have to be further processed because we had don't have a lot of end-processing in Switzerland. … The rest goes to other countries and gets further processed," said Böni. 

"Recycling e-waste has consistently been very challenging," said Markus Stengele, Head of Value, Environment, and Safety at Solenthaler Recycling AG (Sorec) 

As developed EU countries face renewed analysis for illegally exporting e-waste to developing countries, ensuring a tight observing system of this material is vital. Empa carries out congruity assessments to ensure that recycling practices follow Swiss regulations, Böni said. 

"Of course, we can't follow each and every iota. That is unrealistic. Yet, we concentrate on those materials which are basic and those materials where we see there are downstream processes which are essential for decontamination – for example, the plastics," said Böni. "We need to realize how well they are getting along that all together that we know, if it's not in Switzerland, that what they are doing would be compatible with what we would do in Switzerland." 

All exported e-waste requires approval from the Federal Office for the Environment, and exporting such waste materials to countries that are not in the EU or OECD (Association for Economic Co-operation and Development) is prohibited. 

Related: UNLP and ITU: A collaborative relationship to end e-waste and promote green norms 

"When something is in the system in Switzerland, since we are likewise a landlocked nation, we don't have problems with ports where you can't so easily control the material or leaving the nation. We have, I would state, a very watertight system in Switzerland," Böni said. 

For as long as 15 years, Switzerland has been actively encouraging and supporting environmentally friendly electronic and electrical waste removal practices in developing countries, including Peru, Colombia, and Egypt.  E-waste Collection Centres In Bangalore.

Despite the fact that Switzerland's e-waste system is unique and not easily replicable around the globe – reinforced by a solid recycling culture inside the nation – they are glad to share lessons learned. 

"From what we have learned in this 25 years of deliberate recycling in Switzerland, we share our knowledge, we share our experience and we are cheerful if other people get on it," said Wymann. 

Reported and written by Lucy Spencer. Video shot and produced by Katya Skvortsova.