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2006-04-13
Reprocessors warned of "serious risks" from WEEE
Bracknell-based reprocessors CKS Electronics Recycling has warned of "serious risks" involved in some approaches to recycling waste electrical appliances.
As the government finalises the details of new producer responsibility measures, CKS has called for fellow reprocessing companies not to take "short cuts" in breaking down waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) for recycling.
Shortcuts in WEEE treatment threaten to make the risks significantly higher for waste operators and their staff
- Phil Sprason, CKS Group
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CKS, which has an IT reprocessing plant in Rushden and is planning to build a new reprocessing plant somewhere in the south of the UK, believes waste equipment must be dismantled manually before being shredded.
This is to remove components containing hazardous substances from the electrical devices so that they are turned to carcinogenic dust upon shredding.
Although most health and safety problems in the waste management industry involve vehicles, CKS said it had been concerned with a recent safety alert issued by the Health and Safety Executive (see letsrecycle.com story).
"Risks"
The company said it had discovered "serious health risks associated with the use of so called WEEE treatment facilities".
Phil Sprason, CKS Electronics Recycling managing director said: "The Waste Industry doesn?t have a good safety record and shortcuts in WEEE treatment threaten to make the risks significantly higher for waste operators and their staff."
CKS explained that traditional methods for processing mixed metals and plastics "tend to rely heavily on high-speed shredders, which chop the waste into ever smaller chunks for subsequent separation".
It said this process "generates dust particles which pose particular risks".
The company accused some "traditional scrap merchants" of lobbying the government to avoid the "Annex II" section of Europe's WEEE Directive, which sets certain treatment guidelines urging recyclers to manually remove hazardous components before shredding waste electronics.
Mr Sprason said: "More time and effort needs to be focussed upon how to identify and correctly treat the relatively small percentage, but significant amount of Annex II material contained within WEEE."
LINKS
letsrecycle news article
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