What happens to your waste

Why it’s important to recycle and what happens to your waste

Effective recycling solutions benefit people, businesses and the environment.

  • Resources: Recycling means saving precious raw materials and energy.
  • Space: Our space is limited. Landfills poison the environment with dangerous toxic substances.
  • Environment and Health: A safer environment improves the quality of our lives and our happiness. Recycling and a greener environment reduce health dangers.
  • Energy consumption: Recycling means consuming less materials, reducing the amount of waste and using less energy to extract and process raw materials.

Large household appliances

This category includes WEEE products such as washing machines, stoves, dishwashers and dryers.

The first phase of recycling is decontamination. Cables and other electrical components are removed while resistors, plastics and iron components and other metals are separated and recovered. These materials are sent for further processing and recovery.

ERP Italia is the founder of the WEEE Coordination Centre (CDCRAEE) and the National Coordination Centre for Batteries and Accumulators (CDCNPA) and is recognised as an authoritative, efficient and reliable organisation to simplify the management of contributions and its members’ regulatory compliance.

Recycling process

1. Decontamination with Pre-crushing

2. Crushing

3. Separation

Recovered materials

Cables

Concrete

Capacitor

Plastic

Ferrous Metal

Non-Ferrous Metal

Cooling devices

his type of WEEE includes refrigerators, freezers and appliances equipped with refrigeration devices, such as water chillers. Some appliances contain refrigerating gases which are classified as ODS (ozone-depleting substances) such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) which are now banned.

These gases are captured and treated in ODS recovery facilities. Cooling equipment decontamination implies a series of processes. The compressors are decontaminated to recover ODS and oils. Insulating foam is treated for ODS recovery. Metals are recovered and resold. Plastic can be re-used for new products. Recovered ODS and oils are destroyed by a special treatment process.

Discover the recycling cycle of refrigerators, freezers and water coolers.

Recycling process

1. Decontamination

2. Crushing

3. Separation

4. Decontamination with foam

Recovered materials

Gas

Oil

Non-Ferrous Metal

Plastic

Ferrous Metal

Foam

Devices with a display screen

Display equipment includes cathode ray tubes (found on older generation TVs and monitors), flat-screen monitors and TVs, such as plasma and liquid crystal displays (LCD).

Cathode ray tubes (CRT) contain harmful phosphorus powders, leaded glass, copper and other rare metals. These materials can be reused to make new products. The panel and the tapered glass of cathode ray tubes can be recovered. The tapered glass coating is removed, and the glass cleaned to allow the production of a new CRT.

Most LCD TVs use mercury lamps to illuminate the screen. To remove the lamps, the device must be dismantled before the LCD screen is processed. Studies to develop more effective automated solutions are underway.

If you want to receive more information, contact us via the contact area.

Recycling process

1. Manual dismantling

2. Cathode ray tube separation (Pb, Ba)

3. Compression and removal of metals

4. Glass cleaning

Recovered materials

Ferrous Metal

Non-Ferrous Metal

Monitor body and electronics

Circuit Board

Leaded glass

Unleaded glass

Small household appliances

This WEEE category is the most complex because it contains a wide range of substances that can be recovered: wood, metal, plastic, glass and cardboard.

The category includes: cleaning appliances, vacuum cleaners, mechanical brooms, sewing, knitting, weaving and other fabric processing machines, irons and other equipment for ironing, pressing and further processing of clothes, toasters, fryers, electric grinders, coffee machines and equipment for opening or sealing containers or packages, electric knives, hair-clippers, hair-dryers, electric brushes, razors, massage and body care devices, clocks, alarm clocks and equipment for measuring, indicating and recording time, etc. These devices are dismantled, and the plastic parts are separated from the metal parts. Initial decontamination includes the removal of toner, cartridges, batteries and cables.

If you want to receive more information, contact us via the contact area.

Recycling process

1. Manual pretreatment

2. Compression

3. Collection station: batteries, capacitors, printed circuit boards, electric motors, large objects, other hazardous components

4. Crushing

5. Separation

Recovered materials

Cables

Waste

Plastic

Fine materials

Ferrous Metal

Non-Ferrous Metal

Individual Components

Lamps

This grouping includes neon tubes and energy-efficient light bulbs, known as compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), while old filament bulbs and halogen lamps are not classified as WEEE.

Lamps are crushed and washed or treated in pressurised containers.

Special machines are used for the removal of phosphorus and mercury. The remaining material is divided into glass, metal and plastic.

The recovered phosphorus powder and mercury can be reused to produce new lamps. Shattered glass can be used to cover ovens or, if sufficiently pure, make new lamps. Aluminium bases are melted while other metals are recycled.

ERP Italia is the founder of the WEEE Coordination Centre (CDCRAEE) and the National Coordination Centre for Batteries and Accumulators (CDCNPA) and is recognised as an authoritative, efficient and reliable organisation to simplify the management of contributions and its members’ regulatory compliance.

Recycling process

1. Crushing

2. Separation

3. Powder recovery

Recovered materials

Ferrous Metal

Non-Ferrous Metal

Mercury

Photovoltaic panels

Silicon based photovoltaic panels require normal flat glass treatment and no special removal of the semiconductor layer.

Non-silicon photovoltaic panels require special semiconductor removal technology and the isolation of toxic heavy metals.

If you need assistance with the disposal of your photovoltaic panels, contact ERP.

Recycling process

1. Remove cables, plug and semiconductor

2. Separate aluminium and glass from the photovoltaic panel

3. Removing labels

4. Reusing or recycling the EVA film and recovering chemical elements such as cadmium and selenium

5. Separating into different components (EVA film, aluminium, wafer, plastic cable and plug, semiconductor, glass)

6. Recycling the glass components in a foundry

Recovered materials

Leaded glass

Individual Components

Plastic

Unleaded glass

Cables

Metal

Cadmium

Batteries and Accumulators

Batteries and Accumulators are any source of electrical energy generated by the direct conversion of chemical energy. They consist of one or more primary cells (non-rechargeable) or one or more secondary cells (rechargeable).

Most batteries contain toxic heavy metals, including nickel, cadmium and mercury. All these metals can be recovered and reused.

The recycling of batteries has beneficial environmental effects because it prevents their disposal in landfills, where the heavy metals are dispersed into the ground causing water and soil pollution and endangering the lives of plants and animals. If the batteries are incinerated together with household waste, heavy metals cause air pollution.

If you want to receive more information, contact us via the contact area.

Recycling process

1. Sorting

2. Crushing

Recovered materials

Plastic

Lead

Cobalt

Nickel

Metal

Manganese

Acid

Mercury

Zinc

Cadmium