The recycling process will also differ depending on the type of e-waste that is being treated. When you’re designing a product, it is important to understand the recycling steps that it will go through.
Large appliances excluding cold appliances
Large appliances, such as ovens or washing machines, have a comparable recycling process as small appliances. They however will have an extra step of ‘partial dismantling of certain equipment’ between the (2) ‘storage’ and (3) ‘hand pre-sorting and decontamination’ steps that we have seen for small appliances. During this extra step, some equipment (especially professional equipment) is partly dismantled to remove materials that are easy to recover before (4) the ‘mechanized opening’ step.
Large cold appliances
In the image below you can see the recycling steps for large cold appliances, such as refrigerators and air conditioners.
Recycling process of large cold appliances (Source: Ecosystem, 2020)
You can open and download this image here.
Special attention is put in the decontamination of the equipment by extracting multiple regulated substances, such as oils and refrigerant fluids. Insulation foams also receive additional consideration.