Reassembling Rubbish

RDM | Step 4 | Dismantling and sorting of copper and cable housing.

Roberto is responsible for manual dismantling and sorting of high value metals such as copper from the deflection coils ('yokes') of cathode-ray tube monitors (CRTs). He needs to separate the metals from a variety of plastic housings. He also separates out cables that will be hand stripped for the copper they contain. The plastic assemblies around the yokes as well as those comprising the cable housings are of substantially lesser value than the high-quality copper of the yoke. Roberto's role in the RDM process illustrates one of the reasons electronics recycling can be difficult and costly: electronics are multi-material things. They are comprised of a wide range of metals, plastics, and other materials. All of these different materials fluctuate in value with different commodity markets. There is no such thing as a pure stream of electronics that comes into a recycling facility. Dismantling and separation of some kind or another must go on.


 

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