There are more and more containers for recycling glass, plastic, cans or cardboard. But what about electronic waste, which generates 4% of the world’s total greenhouse gases? It’s not about arriving and throwing them away, so we indicate here where they can be thrown.
You could say we are in the middle of a transition. Many items that used traditional disposable alkaline batteries now have built-in lithium-ion batteries. The reason? The first is discarded and the second is recharged. An alkaline battery has its days more than numbered, while the other, being able to plug in and recover its energy, not only allows savings for the user but also contributes to generating less waste.
However, there are still many products that use alkaline batteries. Starting with remote controls for televisions and sound equipment, but also toys and other artifacts. In the past, they were simply thrown away, but today we know that many of their components, such as mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals, do not degrade and are highly toxic to the environment.
Knowing this, many keep them aside, waiting for the chance to get rid of them properly. A moment that, unfortunately, almost never comes. Why are batteries thrown away or recycled?
The same goes for broken or outdated electronics: dumb cell phones, bad headphones, chargers that no longer charge, old computers that look like museum pieces. All of them have already performed their valuable functions, but when it’s time to pull them right, hardly anyone knows how or where to do it.
The truth is that all these materials can be fragmented and reused thanks to urban mining, which today is able to give them another use and utility. An example of a button was what happened two years ago, at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, when the medals that were given to winning athletes were made with used phones and electronics, donated by the through 1,300 educational institutions and 2,100 electronics stores across Japan.
A total of 78,985 tons of discarded items were collected, a lot including more than 6 million cell phones, digital cameras, portable video games and computers. These inputs have been classified, dismantled and recast by specialists. Thanks to this collective effort, 30.3 kg of gold, 4,100 kg of silver and 2,700 kg of bronze were obtained.
Let’s talk about electronic waste
Chilenter It is a public foundation — since 2024 it will become dependent on the Ministry of Education — with about 20 years of life, whose main idea originally was to provide more computers to more students in vulnerable schools.
“One of the most effective ways to reduce the digital divide was to collect obsolete equipment from different companies and recondition the computers, to then send them to the schools designated by the Ministry of Education”, explains Matías González, executive director of Chilenter. Since its inception in 2002, they have delivered more than 113,000 refurbished computers to schools, colleges and social organizations from Arica to Punta Arenas.
However, by refurbishing so many laptops, they started accumulating e-waste that no longer had a useful life. “From what we received, there were parts that worked but many others that didn’t.” To take charge of this waste, the foundation launched a waste management circuit in 2011, recovering metals from different equipment, such as aluminum and copper, and generating plates which are then sent to countries such as Japan, who have the technology to separate the more precious metals. , such as gold, silver, platinum or palladium, which are in high demand by the technology industry.
“We sell these plates, and with these funds we can do more digital literacy projects,” González explains. “This is how we are deepening a line of circular economy and education for the community. We want to teach which things can be repaired, recycled and reused, and which cannot,” he says.
In one year, Chile generates 185,000 tons of electronic waste, according to a report by the Ministry of the Environment. This means that, on average, each inhabitant leaves nearly 10 kilos of electrical and electronic waste per year. (WEEE). Officially, only 4.7% is collected, the challenge is therefore vast.
“For every thousand computers we refurbish, we save 833 tons of CO2,” says González, “which is equivalent to the energy consumption of 118 homes with the lights on all year.”
How to recycle computer electronic waste?
Although you can go directly to Chilenter — located at Compañía 4365, Quinta Normal — and deliver electronic waste, there are other clean points or collection areas of the foundation in different parts of the capital. To find out which one is closest to your home or work, you can write to them by whatsapp . And to find out what types of waste they receive, Here is the full list .
“When they contact us or bring us waste, we open and test all the pieces, and see which are used for packaging and which are for recycling,” says Matías González. In the case of companies, when they deliver their old devices, they receive a certificate that guarantees that “there is a correct final destination for their waste”.
When cell phones arrive with lithium-ion batteries, Chilenter contacts another supplier to recycle them. As we mentioned before, they should never be thrown in the trash: it is believed that electronic waste correspond to 5% of greenhouse gas emissions .
Batteries and batteries
Cells and batteries contain heavy metals and chemical compounds, and for this reason they are classified as hazardous waste. It is important not to throw them in the common bins, but to throw them in the yellow containers intended for them. If cadmium, mercury and other compounds contained in batteries are incinerated, they will rise into the atmosphere as toxic gases, causing serious environmental damage.
To take care of this problem was born eco-mining , a national company founded in the midst of a pandemic by Álvaro Cruz. Their mission is to recover these metals from electronic waste and give them a second chance. One of the things that gets the most recovery are rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, the ones used by cell phones and most of today’s electronics. “Companies like Chilenter or Degraf recover their waste and give it value, but the battery has always been left out. That’s what I take,” he said.
Its Quilicura plant also has the ability to reduce alkaline batteries. The problem is that for this you need a large volume, at least 100 tons. “ They also lack commitment from the various institutions or incentives for people not to throw them away. For example, when buying new batteries, give a discount to those who bring the old ones”, analyzes Cruz.
Summary: how to manage recycling?
If you have electronic waste from computers, batteries and batteries in your home, the route we recommend you take is to check whether the collection point in your neighborhood or municipality receives this type of waste. If this is not the case, it is advisable to get closer to Chilenter, either via its social networks —Facebook That is instagram — either by visiting their premises at Fifth normal .
If you live in regions, Matías González, executive director of Chilenter, comments that they are working on more waste reception points and new alliances with schools and universities in different parts of the country.
Are you a company that has a lot of lithium-ion batteries? You can write directly to Álvaro Cruz to make a request at acruz@economineria.cl.
Source: Latercera
I am David Jack and I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years. As an experienced journalist, I specialize in covering sports news with a focus on golf. My articles have been published by some of the most respected publications in the world including The New York Times and Sports Illustrated.
