Notes:
- Initial shredding to help sort and separate plastics from metals and internal circuitry
- A conveyor belt transports shredded materials, a powerful overhead magnet separates iron and steel from the waste stream.
- Ferrous materials include iron and thus magnetic.
- The ferrous material is collected and prepared for sale as recycled steel
- Further mechanical processing separates aluminum, copper and circuit boards from the material stream, which is now mostly plastic
- The aluminum, copper, and circuit boards are collected in Gaylords, which is a pallet of e-waste, and prepared for sale as recycled materials
- Using advanced technology ABS plastic is separated from polystyrene plastic
- Final step is to locate and extract any remaining metal remnants to create as pure a stream as possible
E-Cycle: The Making & Discarding of Electronics 