Urban Mining
Environmentally friendly and socially responsible treatment of end-of-life electric en electronic equipment
Every company has, on regular intervals, electric and electronic equipment that reaches the end of its useable lifespan. This equipment may suffer breakdowns or simply fall defective, also known as 'beyond economical repair', or the equipment is simply too old and no longer suited for daily use. Ever more often the applications run in IT equipment demand ever increasing capacity, making older devices unsuitable for today’s demands.
European businesses are often of the opinion that waste collection companies are their ideal partner to remove these materials in an effective and cost-efficient manner.
SECUNDARY RAW MATERIALS
Although these waste collectors have of course earned their place in our economy, they are not the ideal partner for these goods. What you have are in fact secondary raw-materials, which should not be looked upon as waste at all, but in many cases are far better suited for the production of new goods when compared to virgin ore and concentrate.
In most cases the treatment costs involved in the recovery of contained payables are far lower than the value of these raw-materials, and you should get a payment for these. Many people are unaware of the fact that next to traditional scrap metal, paper and glass, value can also be extracted from plastics and electronics
RECYCLING SAVES ENERGY
Furthermore integrated smelters are not capable of recovering all materials contained. Although this group of consumers manages to recycle a wide range of metals to their pure form through systems requiring massive investments, they too need a helping hand to recover certain valuable materials contained.
Energy savings can be as high as 90% in this part of the process alone, when the numbers are compared to those of required energy for the production of comparable materials from primary raw-materials. With our help, these numbers can be improved on even further.
MAXIMISED RETURNS
Our goals is to separate the materials that make up the complex structures of modern electric and electronic devices in a sensible and cost efficient manner. By doing this the energy required for recycling is reduced even further, the environmental impact is reduced significantly as a direct consequence, and last but not least, we can maximise your financial returns.
RE-USE AS THE ULTIMATE FORM OF RECYCLING
According to the WEEE, the guidelines applicable to recycling and treatment of end-of-life electric and electronic equipment, it is required that the environmental impact of these products is minimised, and re-use is the first choice above recycling. Through our network of re-sellers we can bring your materials into this cycle, in whole or in parts. Unlike other resellers we will not do that by loading containers and simply sending them to Africa. Also, materials will not be offered for re-use if disallowed by our suppliers.
Equipment, parts or components suited for re-use will be tested in Europe by professionals, before being sold to consumers, usually also within Europe.
YOUR WISHES ARE THE CENTRE OF OUR FOCUS
It is important to us that we can comply with your demands. If your company demands destruction of certain media, we will never consider offering these goods into the re-use market, in part or in whole. Destruction can always be supervised by a person appointed to do so by yourselves, and will of course be confirmed by the issue of certificates, as well as photographic records of the destruction at your request.
