2016 Word Recycling Forum: Loops and circles

2016 Word Recycling Forum: Loops and circles
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Creating a circular economy for materials used in the manufacturing place has become a goal for some participants in both the electronics and automotive sectors, according to presenters at the 2016 Word Recycling Forum: Electronics & Cars Recycling, which took place in Macau, China, in mid-November.

United States-based Dell Technologies, makers of office and personal computer equipment, has put in place a program to collect, recycle and put back into its own new products some of the plastic scrap from its own end-of-life items.

According to Vivian Tai, Dell’s head of environmental affairs and producer responsibility in its Asia Pacific, Japan and Taiwan region, Dell’s 2020 Legacy of Good Plan sets out 10 “bold sustainability aspirations,” four of which are environmental in nature. One of those is to “ensure 90% of waste generated in Dell-operated buildings is diverted from landfills.”

In part to meet this goal, Dell has been focusing on its packaging and its handling of the plastic scrap generated by its end-of-life computers and peripheral equipment. Tai says Dell anticipates using 5,350 tons of recycled-content plastic resin in its 2016 fiscal year, with 1,700 tons of that derived from its own end-of-life products.

The closed-loop chain that diverts and prepares that scrap involves collection centers throughout the United States, then recycling and reprocessing facilities operated by Wistron Corporation in both Texas and China, and then the use of the recycled-content components at assembly plants in China.

Professor Weng Duan of Tsinghua University in Beijing noted that 16.85 million vehicles had been sold in China in the first eight months of 2016, and that China’s vehicle population is growing at a pace that means it will reach the United States “in about 10 years.”

The vehicle pool is also growing in metals and materials volume, said Weng, who said that while in 2011 just 10.5% of the passenger vehicles sold in China were sport utility vehicles (SUVs), in 2015 that percentage had risen to 31.2%.

Recyclers will have to be ready, said Weng, since while an estimated 3.17 million ELVs were ready to be recycled in 2011, that figure is expected to climb to 15.4 million in 2020.

Like the European Union, China has passed a directive setting recycling targets for all these ELVs, said Weng. The 2016 directive seeks for 80% of ELV materials to be diverted from the landfill, with 75% required to be recycled.

Professor Zhishi Wang of the host city’s Macau University of Science and Technology said Macau’s foremost waste diversion challenges lies with its municipal solid waste (MSW), which currently is incinerated. Wang said the high content of wet food scraps in Macau’s MSW stream makes it a poor match for incineration, and that the special administrative region’s government must look closely at alternative waste-to-energy technologies such as anaerobic digestion.

The 2016 Word Recycling Forum: Electronics & Cars Recycling, was organized by Switzerland-based ICM AG and was Nov. 15-18 in Macau, China.

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Source: Recycling Today
2016 Word Recycling Forum: Loops and circles
<![CDATA[Creating a circular economy for materials used in the manufacturing place has become a goal for some participants in both the electronics and automotive sectors, according to presenters at the 2016 Word Recycling Forum: Electronics & Cars Recycling, which took place in Macau, China, in mid-November.   United States-based Dell Technologies, makers of office and personal computer equipment, has put in place a program to collect, recycle and put back into its own new products some of the plastic scrap from its own end-of-life items.   According to Vivian Tai, Dell’s head of environmental affairs and producer responsibility in its Asia Pacific, Japan and Taiwan region, Dell’s 2020 Legacy of Good Plan sets out 10 “bold sustainability aspirations,” four of which are environmental in nature. One of those is to “ensure 90% of waste generated in Dell-operated buildings is diverted from landfills.”   In part to meet this goal, Dell has been focusing on its packaging and its handling of the plastic scrap generated by its end-of-life computers and peripheral equipment. Tai says Dell anticipates using 5,350 tons of recycled-content plastic resin in its 2016 fiscal year, with 1,700 tons of that derived from its own end-of-life products.   The closed-loop…