Recycling

The majority of end-of-life electronics are not suitable for reuse, either they are broken and not economically repairable, or they are obsolete technology and no longer provide the functionality required. The US generates over 400 million units of this ewaste each year with the majority being landfilled or exported to developing countries.

As regulations on dumping and export tighten, recycling becomes the natural choice. Sims Recycling Solutions is North America's largest electronics recycler and has invested hundred of millions of dollars in electronics recycling infrastructure in the US and Canada.

Why recycle?

There are several reasons why you should recycle your end of life electronics.

Data Security - companies have many laws they need to follow regarding their customers' private information and the ever-present threat of identity theft ensures that all of us have concerns over the disposition of old electronics. No longer is it just computer hard drives we need to be concerned about, many other electronic items now retain confidential infomation from printer/scanners, through cell phones and GPS devices all the way to office routers and switches.

Environmental Protection - the professional recycling of ewaste has many environmental benefits:

Landfilling of old electronics could allow hazardous substances to leach out into drinking water supplies and the EPA is now starting to ban this practice.
Exporting ewaste frequently means the use of child labor, environmental pollution and harm to human health.
Recycling allows us to safely remove hazards, conserve resources and minimize our carbon footprint.

How do we recycle?

Firstly we have to de-pollute the ewaste - old electronics contain a mixture of hazardous substances that need to be carefully removed before the the recycling of the materials can begin. It is these problematic components that cause much of the problem when ewaste is exported to developing countries.

These pollutants include items such as mercury in the bulbs of scanners and laptops through to the various chemistries of batteries, even down to the button-cell batteries that keep the date and time on many consumer electronic products.

After de-pollution, the ewaste heads towards our automated recycling plants. Here the redundant equipment is first shredded to liberate all of the materials from each other and subsequently the small pieces are transported over a range of technologies that segregate the steel, aluminum, copper, circuit boards, plastics, glass etc. These materials are then shipped to smelters in place of primary raw materials like iron ore or bauxite.

This type of shredding and separation line, when combined with all the safety and environmental controls, costs several million dollars and can process hundreds of thousands of pounds each day.

Sims Recycling Solutions electronics recycling services