In Russia, they have begun to make road surfaces from old TVs and mobile phones

Old TVs and mobile phones in Russia have begun to be recycled into road surfaces. Information about this is contained in the "Album of technologies for the disposal of waste from the use of goods", which was developed by the Russian Environmental Operator. From 2021 to 2023, over 5.7 million tons of secondary resources and raw materials were used during the construction and reconstruction of three federal highways, including materials from used household appliances. Eight Russian enterprises are engaged in the recycling of electronic equipment, and they are included in the register of reliable recyclers within the framework of extended producer responsibility (EPR), the press service of the REO reported.

"Recycling of old TVs and mobile phones has significant potential for development in Russia. Not only can valuable metals such as gold be extracted from these devices, but secondary raw materials for road construction can also be produced. For example, plastic phone cases and glass elements of LCD TVs are recycled and sent to road plants. These materials are added to the composition of the road surface. This is how the closed-loop economy works, the principles of which need to be implemented in production everywhere. We have 8 enterprises capable of completely recycling electronics. All of them are in the register of recyclers, for example, the Ecotechprom, Ecoplast plants and the Aurus printed circuit board recycling plant. They extract valuable metals such as gold, silver and copper, recycle plastic into granules and recycle hazardous components,” explained Denis Butsaev, CEO of REO.

Mobile phones

The process of recycling mobile devices begins with manual sorting by manufacturer and other characteristics. Then the phones are disassembled into parts. The main components are batteries, plastic cases and printed circuit boards, which are sent for recycling.

Batteries containing toxic substances such as arsenic, lead and mercury are sent to special enterprises for their recycling. These electrical sources are valuable due to the presence of precious metals. "We strongly recommend that you hand over old phones and batteries to specialized collection points, as the hazardous substances they contain are detrimental to the environment. The addresses of the points can be found in the Uber app and on the website," the head of the Russian Environmental Operator added.

Printed circuit boards are separated from the housings and sent for the extraction of precious metals. The housings and boards are then crushed and sent to the sorting chamber in a state of almost fine dust. There, the final separation into materials occurs by mechanical and chemical means.

The precious metals are then extracted, cleaned and sent to enterprises. Plastic materials are mainly sent to road plants, where they are used as an additive in asphalt.

TVs

"Old LCD TVs can find a second life. LCD materials are considered environmentally friendly. Glass can be recycled into crumbs, which are used in asphalt mixtures," the head of the Russian Environmental Operator added.

Technologies used for recycling LCD displays are mainly focused on the recovery and reuse of the main component - glass.

The quality of recycled glass is often low, but it can be used in asphalt and concrete. Better quality glass can be obtained by removing the polarizing filter, but this significantly complicates and increases the cost of the process.

You can check the collection points for old electronics in your city through the Uber app, available in the App Store, Google Play, Rustore and AppGallery.

Source: riamo.ru