Finding reuse for electronic refuse

By Alexander Villafania INQUIRER.net MANILA, Philippines -- Electronic device purchases in the Philippines are increasing despite the dire economic situation. People are buying more computers, mobile phones and electric appliances, as prices are going down and performance improving. However, few are aware of the dangers of electronic waste. According to environmental group Greenpeace, electronic waste or e-waste produces among the highest concentrations of heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, nickel, lithium and beryllium. The e-waste problem is also compounded by the growth of the information technology industry. The European Union (EU) has already foreseen the impact of the IT industry on the production of e-waste. The EU has signed into law the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive” that requires manufacturers, private firms and individuals to properly dispose obsolete electronic equipment. Different states in the United States have implemented their own e-waste disposal directives with others totally banning electronic devices being thrown in landfills. Such specific law on e-waste is not available in the Philippines. Even the National Solid Waste Management Commission generally designates electronic garbage as one of the "special garbage" based on the definition of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, the only law the mentions electronic devices. There is also no long-term study made about e-waste in the Philippines. Despite the looming problem, one company has already taken steps in helping reduce electronic waste in the country. Unknown to most, the popular electronic surplus retail shop HMR in Pioneer Street Mandaluyong City has an affiliate firm that disposes electronic waste, called Envirocycle. Watch this video interview with Envirocycle. The e-waste disposal firm is under the HMR Group of Companies operated by Australian businessman Randell Carman. The company recently invited Inquirer.net to visit their site in Sta. Rosa Industrial Park, Laguna, where they deposit tons of discarded electronic devices for processing. desktop computers, servers, mobile phones, home appliances, anything that can be plugged into a power socket, are processed here. David Thomas Carman, Envirocycle business development officer, explained that the company is part of a holistic equipment management service offered by the HMR Group of Companies. The principle is that as companies purchase their electronic equipment and manage them until they get replaced or discarded. Carman said the company provides just about every aspect of equipment lifecycle management from tagging individual devices, end-of-life monitoring, refurbishing, recycling, auctioning and disposal. "Companies aren't familiar with the methods of disposing their equipment. Some of these are either simply stored or thrown away," Carman said. Carman explained that Envirocycle's main purpose is refurbishing and recycling obsolete equipment. If parts cannot be restored, these are stripped down and separated into different reusable materials from plastics, glass, and other metallic components. Each type of material is then sold to different recycling plants. In a day, the Envirocycle plant processes 5,500 kilos of equipment per day. "Nothing is wasted,” Carman added. In terms of volume, the most discarded electronic equipment are cathode ray tubes (CRT) of old computer monitors and TVs. The volume of discarded CRTs is largely due to sudden surge in purchases of low-cost, low-power liquid crystal displays. CRTs are slowly becoming obsolete and these also pose health and environmental hazards because of the toxic materials present in nearly every part, which makes them hazardous for manual handling. For this, the company developed its own CRT processing plant that is about the size of a truck container. The machine has a conveyor belt extending down to where handlers wearing protective eyewear, gloves, and masks are putting in the CRTs. These go up to the feeder, which is the main compartment. When in operation, the sound of breaking glass and clanking metal can be heard from inside. Using high powered magnets various parts are separated and moved into tubes that feed boxes with the separated parts. Plastics go on one tube while broken glass goes to another. One more box contains metal components. A special tube contains mercury in its powdered form. Carman said that they process about two tons of CRTs per day. Envirocycle also has branches in the US and Malaysia and each has their own CRT processing machine. Carman said that the company has already worked with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for an early-stage e-waste disposal initiative, which had shopping malls putting up trash bins specifically for disposal of mobile phones and their batteries. He said the project was proven successful that some of the malls have conducted their own initiative. Carman also said they have also worked with the Ayala Foundation for project GILAS (Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students), which provides refurbished computers to various high schools. Other private firms have already become clients of Envirocycle in the refurbishing and disposal of their equipment. However, Carman said the familiarity in disposing e-waste is still low. But he expects it to grow eventually as more companies become aware of the dangers of e-waste, while multinational companies act to conform to international laws against e-waste. "Everyone can be affected by e-waste but if we start now we'll be able to reduce the impact,” said Carman.