Tecnalia Research + Innovation’s novel waste recycling system had won the EARTO prize, which has been recognized as an innovative project at a European level. With this new recycling system, the detection and classification of the waste products from electronic and electric equipment, which is difficult to categorize conventionally due to its similar shape, color and weight is achieved.
Nowadays the management of electronic and electrical wastes is becoming a great threat to the contemporary society. These wastes have high toxicity and are not biodegradable. Tecnalia’s recycling technology will help over 1,200 recycling companies to save about 10% of its expenses in recycling electronic and electrical waste products.
The waste recycling and detection system can detect about 98% of a wide range of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), which cannot be ordered by traditional methods. The detected waste products are categorized using optical descriptors in real time. Tecnalia’s recycling unit will provide over 400 t of aluminum by recycling the wastes annually, which is 40% higher than that delivered by conventional recycling systems.
Over 1.5 million workers from about 50 countries across the world are engaged in these waste recycling-related operations. There are about 700 to 1,200 companies in Europe performing the WEEE recycling operations, which have been benefited by Tecnalia’s recycling system. In Europe, the companies will provide the annual turnover of about 115,000 million euros and they deliver 600 Mt materials per year. The volume of WEEE continues to grow at a rate of 3 times greater than the overall urban waste products in European countries, which is expected to attain 12 Mt by 2015. The European Union has proposed a law to recover 70-80% of WEEE and to recycle about 50-75% of the recovered WEEE materials. Tecnalia’s waste detection method will provide solution for meeting this legislation and also enhance the recycling process of the WEEE.
Source: http://www.tecnalia.com