Abstract
The amounts of e-waste, consisting of metal (e-metals) and plastic (e-plastics) streams from electronic goods, are increasing in the United States and elsewhere. The e-metals waste streams are being recycled to a reasonable degree due to the value of precious metals. E-plastic waste streams currently are not recycled or reused to a significant extent. As a result, most e-plastics are disposed of by landfilling or thermal treatment, or sent overseas for alleged recycling or reuse, any of which could result in unsafe worker exposure and release into the environment. Two of the major barriers to e-plastics’ reuse or recycling are the mixed plastic content and the presence in the e-plastics of flame retardants (FR), of which two classes in particular, the brominated flame retardants (BFR) and organo-phosphorus flame retardants (OPFR), have associated health concerns. The major goal of this project is to investigate the possibility of direct reuse of e-plastics in compression molding. Preliminary data generated have identified a molding procedure that yields remanufactured e-plastics having a tensile strength of 29.3 MPa. This moderate strength level is suspected to be due to inclusions of plastic bits that did not melt and internal voids from out-gassing. Handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was utilized to characterize elemental components in the e-plastics tested for compression molding. Several high “hits” for Br were found that could not be predicted visually. The preliminary XRF data for BFR and OPFR in this work are helpful for environmental and occupational hazard assessments of compression molding activities. Additionally, methods are suggested to characterize the metals, BFR, and OPFR content of the e-plastics using several different additional laboratory analytical techniques to determine the suitability for cost-effective and easy-to-use technologies.
Highlights
Waste material from electronics is referred to by a variety of terms including e-waste [1] and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) [2]
There are currently no established guidelines or dataor fordata the for processing of e-plastics
To increase its value by promoting e-plastics to a usable engineering material, one goal of this study to increase its value by promoting e-plastics to a usable engineering material, one goal of this study to suitable assess suitable compression molding conditions
Summary
Waste material from electronics is referred to by a variety of terms including e-waste (or e-wastes) [1] and waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) [2]. In 2012, the United States (US) generated at least 3.4 million tons of e-waste [3]. The amount of e-waste being generated is steadily increasing, both in the US and worldwide [4]. The e-waste stream consists of electronics items, such as computers, television and computer monitors, cell phones, printers/fax machines/scanners/. Multifunctional devices, audio video devices (stereos, VCR, DVD players, etc.), as well as electrical items, such as household appliances [5]. The US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has estimated that only approximately 25% of domestic e-waste is currently being recycled or reused [6]. An increasing number of states are restricting or banning the landfilling of e-waste
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