RESPONSIBLY RECYCLING ELECTRONICS

Protecting the Environment through Responsible Recycling Practices

Responsible recycling practices eliminate issues surrounding the management of waste electronics such as illegal dumping, shipping offshore to developing countries, improper handling or disposal of toxic materials, and inadequate health and safety systems for workers handling and processing this equipment.

Atlantic Canada Electronics Stewardship (ACES) is committed to ensuring that end-of-life electronic products collected through its program are recycled in a manner that protects the environment as well as worker health and safety. In support of this commitment, all recyclers processing program material for ACES are audited under the Recycling Vendor Qualification Program (RVQP) and assessed against the Electronics Recycling Standard (ERS) – both of which were developed by Electronics Product Stewardship Canada (EPSC).

The ERS and RVQP were designed to identify the key environmental, health and safety aspects associated with EOLE (End Of Life Electronics) recycling, and provide a means to assess the recycler’s conformance to these requirements. The ERS is considered the minimum environmental, health and safety requirements for recycling EOLE. It prohibits the land-filling of EOLE, improper handling and disposal of hazards materials, and dumping of any equipment or parts in developing nations.

You can have your EOLE recycled free of charge, simply by dropping it off at an approved collection depot. To find an ACES drop-off centre near you, please visit the ACES Drop-Off Centre locations page.

Primary Vendors

After a rigorous environmental audit and assessment process, FCM Recycling Inc. (Elmsdale, NS) and SIMS Recycling Solutions (Brampton, ON) have been selected as the primary vendors to provide recycling services for the ACES program in Nova Scotia.

In addition to these primary recyclers, all of their downstream processors are also subject to the RVQP to ensure the highest levels of adherence to environmental, occupational health and safety, export and other standards. If you wish to find out more about any of our primary recyclers please visit their sites:

For more information on the Electronics Recycling Standard, visit www.epsc.ca/recycle.

The Recycling Process

Recycling of electronics involves manual and/or mechanical processing to recover raw materials such as metals, glass and plastics.

Electronics are usually separated into the following categories:

Non-Hazardous Materials

Ferrous metals (such as aluminum, lead and copper)
Non-ferrous metals (steel)
Other metals (brass, bronze and metal fines)
Plastics, wood and glass (non-leaded)

Electronic scrap

Cables and wires
Printed circuit boards (high, medium and low grade)
Components, including hard drives, chips and other electronic components

Substances of Concern

Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), CRT frit, leaded plasma display glass and other leaded glass
Rechargeable batteries
Non-rechargeable batteries(including alkaline, lead acid, and coin cell batteries on circuit boards)
Mercury bearing lamps and switches
Components containing polychlorinated biphenyls
Ink and toner cartridges.

Where Do the Recovered Materials Go?

Material/Component	Process	Result	Process Location
Non-Hazardous Materials
Metals	Baled, shredded and/or smelted	Commodity/Metal recovery	Canada
Plastics	Baled, shredded and reprocessed	Commodity/Plastic recovery	Canada or China
Glass (non-leaded)	Crushed and smelted	Feedstock	Canada
Electronic Scrap
Cables and wires	Shredded and smelted	Metal recovery	Canada
Circuit boards	Shredded and smelted	Metal recovery	Canada, USA and Belgium
Fine Metals	Smelted	Metal recovery	USA
Substances of Concern
Leaded glass	Hand dismantled, crushed and Smelted	Feedstock	Canada
Mercury lamps	Distilled	Mercury	Canada
Rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries	Smelted	Metal recovery	USA
Ink and toner cartridges	Re-processed	Ink recovery	Canada