Molten Media Community Trust

Recycling e-waste

When we receive donations that we cannot refurbish then we recycle them. At present we are recycling in the vicinity of 60 to 80 tons of electronic waste annually. This includes plastics and metals of various kinds.

When we receive non-usable items they are responsibly recycled for the minimum possible environmental impact.

Non-reusable items are stripped completely down to their barest components. It is at this stage that the components are separated into various types. Then through negotiations and developments of relationships with local industries items are sent to where they can be reused in a different form.

Recycling Other Materials

We also recycle the various documentation that normally comes with a computer. i.e. Software and other manuals. However not everything can be recycled at the present time.

The tubes from a CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors are currently not able to be recycled and present a large problem for us. CRT's contain two hazardous chemicals. The front of the screen is made from Berium Glass and the back of the tube is made from Lead Glass. Presently these cannot be recycled in New Zealand and are sent overseas for processing.

Other things not able to be recycled include a variety of computer disks that contain unknown grade plastic. A good reason why we should try and reuse them as often as possible before throwing them out.

Various types of metal are stripped from computers and their components on a day-to-day basis before being sold to a scrap metal merchant.

What is stripped and what is done with it all?
· The parts from computer case frames are removed. They are sent to a metal separation shredder.
· Covered copper wiring is run though a shredding process that separates the PVC coating from the copper.
· Aluminium cases and disk platters are stripped from hard drives and copper yokes from monitor's and TV's as well.
· Circuit boards are also sold on to a scrap metal merchant who stores them locally ready for export.
· CPU's are separated from the circuit boards. These contain a higher value metal and are sold to a metal merchant for export.
· Various motors are sold on to companies who separate the copper and steel within