‘E-Waste’
PCrefurb welcomes donations of IT equipment to refurbish and pass on to those unable to afford their own. During the period April 2022 to March 2023, we refurbished 560 pieces of equipment:
- 318 Laptops
- 69 PCs
- 40 Monitors
- 34 Phones
- 26 Tablets
Sometimes, however, donated equipment is unsuitable for refurbishment. This could be because, for example:
- It is physically damaged.
- It is very old and therefore cannot meet the technical requirements of the current Windows operating system.
- Repairs are too costly or too time consuming.
- It is unsuitable for clients’ needs.
In those instances, we are committed to finding the most efficient and environmentally friendly way to dispose of the ‘e-waste’.
Sims Lifecycle Services
In January 2023 we were approached by David Woodriff (National Commercial Manager – Recycling) of Sims Lifecycle Services, a global recycling company who specialise in the recycling of high-grade electronic scrap. David is based at their Stalybridge processing site where they receive around 800 tons per month of scrap e-waste for recycling including desktops, laptops, servers, set top boxes, networking, modern IP desk phones, circuit boards, hard drives, RAM and processors.
David visited our storage facility mid-March 2023 and within a week he very kindly arranged for a licensed haulier to collect a significant amount of unusable PCs, laptops, and other assorted items of e-waste.
What happens to the e-waste?
David described the process for us:
“The e-waste will be fully processed here at Sims Stalybridge, it is sorted into certain types before being fed into a shredder that breaks them down into smaller pieces. The ferrous steel is then removed using a large drum magnet and the non-ferrous metals are separated using an eddy-current separator. What’s left is then fed onto conveyors and run under metal and colour sorters that separate the plastics from the circuit boards. All the separated recovered materials (metals, plastic and circuit boards) are then sent to approved downstream vendor partners for further processing and eventual re-use.”
Thank you, Sims!
David told us “We are happy to support PCrefurb and the valuable service you offer to our community”.
In turn PCrefurb would like to thank David and Sims Lifecycle Services for their professionalism, efficiency, and willingness to fulfil such a vital role for the charity. This not only generated income, but it ensured that all this e-waste is properly processed.
