Toxfree’s innovative solution to Australia’s e-waste problem

Recycling your e-waste is just as important as recycling any other waste material. Toxfree is a true end-of-life recycler of electronic waste. Our business model, technologies and processes ensure that maximum e-waste recycling and recovery processing takes place in Australia and that we do not export the problem.

What is e-waste?

e-waste comes in many forms, including computers, photocopies, printer, fax machines, batteries and mobile phones.

Why is it a problem?

e-waste contains non-renewable but potentially toxic materials such as mercury and lead, that make it both an environmental hazard and a renewable resource.

What can I do?

Ensure that your e-waste is disposed of at a reliable, ethical recycling plant.

When handled correctly, at least 90% to 95% of e-waste components can be recycled, greatly reducing the environmental impact of landfill dumping, sourcing new materials, pollution and contamination.

What does Toxfree do with e-waste?

Toxfree delivers a true end-of-life solution for your e-waste. End-of-life means nothing is re-used; everything is destroyed as part of the recycling process.

Our processes ensure the e-waste is useless in terms of information retrieval or re-use. Should you require a greater level of security, such as individual hard drive destruction, talk to us about a tailored secure e-waste solution.

Our aim is to become the leading e-waste recycler in Australia and set a benchmark for all others to aspire to.

BluBox recycling plant

Toxfree’s BluBox is a Swiss designed processing technology packed in a 40ft container. It is designed for next generation e-waste such as flat panel displays, smart phones, tablets and laptops however can also process a wider variety of domestic e-waste such as toasters and hair dryers.

The BluBox process is designed to extract mercury from the LCD backlighting tubes utilising a sophisticated aspiration system to collect the mercury vapour and phosphor contaminated mercury. The process provides a fully automated solution to handle a wide variety of e-waste items from desktop computers and laptops, to toasters and hair-dryers.

CRT recycling

Toxfree developed, in-house, Australia’s first semi-automated CRT recycling system. The system which incorporates; crushing, density and x-ray sorting technologies, separates the TVs and monitors into their major recyclable components creating value added commodities. The process includes Australia’s only x-ray sorting system, an automated system to separate the lead funnel glass and lead free panel glass found in CRT TVs and monitors.

E-waste drop-off events

Toxfree are experts in tailoring e-waste drop-off events for both business and communities. Whatever your e-waste recycling needs, Toxfree has the solution.

For more information read our brochure – rtp-final-e-waste-brochure-2016

Toxfree Thermal Desorption

As a waste generator or holder, you are responsible to know what your waste is and to ensure that it ends up at a lawful waste facility. This is irrespective of whether your waste is disposed, treated, recycled or applied to land. One stream of waste that Toxfree can help with is Dieldrin, often found in soils.

Dieldrin is a chlorinated hydrocarbon originally produced in 1948 by J. Hyman & Co, Denver, as an insecticide. Dieldrin is closely related to aldrin, which reacts further to form dieldrin. Aldrin is not toxic to insects; it is oxidized in the insect to form dieldrin which is the active compound. Both dieldrin and aldrin are named after the Diels-Alder reaction which is used to form aldrin from a mixture of norbornadiene and hexachlorocyclopentadiene.

Originally developed in the 1940s as an alternative to DDT, dieldrin proved to be a highly effective insecticide and was very widely used during the 1950s to early 1970s. Endrin is a stereoisomer of dieldrin. Dieldrin often ends up in soil after application.

However, it is an extremely persistent organic pollutant; it does not easily break down. Furthermore it tends to biomagnify as it is passed along the food chain. Long-term exposure has proven toxic to humans and a very wide range of animals, far greater than to the original insect targets. For this reason it is now banned in most of the world.
It has been linked to health problems such as Parkinson’s, breast cancer, and immune, reproductive, and nervous system damage. It can also adversely affect testicular descent in the fetus if a pregnant woman is exposed to it.

What can you and your business do?

As a waste generator or holder, you are responsible to know what your waste is and to ensure that it ends up at a lawful waste facility. This is irrespective of whether your waste is disposed, treated, recycled or applied to land.

Thermal Desorption is a “physical separation process” where heat is used to desorb (evaporate moisture and contaminants from solids). Evaporated contaminants are either converted (generally to Carbon Dioxide and Water) or condensed and collected. The temperature in the Thermal Desorber vessel is increased above the boiling point of the organic compound to be removed. Samples of the treated waste are analysed to verify complete decontamination prior to reuse, recycling or disposal. Soil is typically treated at temperatures up to 550°C and retains its physical properties after treatment so that it can be beneficially reused.
Toxfree operates two types of thermal desorption;
• Direct Heated Thermal Desorption (DTD) – a continuous single shell rotary dryer process with a converter unit for bulk soil treatment at rates of up to 50 tonnes per day.
• In-direct Heated Thermal Desorption (ITD) – a dual shell process with a condensation unit for smaller soil volumes and specialist removal of organic contaminants from solid material i.e. PCB Capacitors and Solid Pesticides.

Toxfree is one of Australia’s leading integrated waste management and industrial service provider. Our core values, “Safe, Reliable and Sustainable”, underpin our commitment to offer our customers the safest, most reliable and sustainable waste management solution we can.

Call us today on 1300 toxfree

Sources:
Australian Pesticide & Veterinaty Medicine Authority (APVMA)