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New uses for old electronics

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New uses for old electronics

CRT Processing building on Janesville's south side.

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JANESVILLE — With little more than two weeks left before the switch from analog to digital television and with the attraction of flat-screen, high-definition sets, it’s out with the old and in with the new for many households.

And while there’s no state law prohibiting the disposal of household electronics in the trash, people are encouraged to keep TVs, computers and other electronics out of the landfill for fear the chemicals they contain could poison soil and water.

That’s where CRT Processing, 2535 Beloit Ave., comes in: The local company, which has been recycling household and commercial electronics since 2004, is one of only a few places in North America equipped to transform cathode ray tubes, found in TVs and computer monitors, into reusable materials.

CRT recycled about 60 million pounds of electronics last year and more than 28 million pounds the previous year. About one-third of that was TVs and computer monitors, which contain picture tubes.

President Jim Cornwell said the increase cannot be entirely credited to the upcoming digital television conversion, but rather to the company’s position as a nationally recognized recycler of the toxin-laden cathode ray tubes.

CRT is a processing site for a national program established late last year by Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp and Toshiba to recycle household electronics made by those manufacturers, Cornwell said. What that means is the company recycles electronics not on the consumer’s dime, but on the manufacturers’, he said.

CRT also has collection points across the country—at least one in every state—where people can drop off TVs, computers, monitors and computer accessories, such as printers, copiers and fax machines, Cornwell said. And besides its Janesville facility, CRT has processing facilities in Oregon, Texas and New Hampshire and collection facilities in Minnesota and Maine, he said.

Disassembly line

What happens to the electronics that are dropped off at CRT for recycling?

Take a load of TVs, for example.

First, the pallet is weighed and labeled so the components can be tracked through the recycling process to their final destination. That ensures the electronics are, in fact, recycled rather than being shipped overseas, Cornwell said.

Next, the TVs are disassembled to separate the plastic shells, picture tubes and circuitry, he said.

Plastic and metal components are placed on separate conveyor belts, which lead to a machine that bales the components for shipping to companies that will recycle the materials.

Picture tubes are placed on another conveyor belt, which leads to a machine that breaks the glass, separates leaded glass from non-leaded glass and cleans the glass, removing graphite, iron oxide and aluminum oxide coatings.

Finally, the glass is sorted, bagged and shipped to a company that melts it down and makes new picture tubes, Cornwell said.

CRT recycles up to 98 percent of everything it receives, he said. That remaining 2 percent includes things that just cannot be recycled, including packaging, wood from old console TVs and “floor sweepings”—the little broken pieces of plastic and metal that end up on the floor during disassembly, he said.

Pending legislation

Cornwell said demand for electronics recycling—know as “e-cycling”—has continued to increase as more people become aware of what can happen if electronics end up in the landfill and take action to prevent electronics from being disposed of in the trash.

In Wisconsin, he said, a state senator is trying again to pass a law requiring manufacturers to assume responsibility for the collection and proper disposal of electronics. The law is modeled after similar laws passed in more than a dozen states, including Minnesota and Illinois.

Cornwell said such a law would be a step in the right direction.

“I think Wisconsin has always been a leader in the environmental movement, and for Wisconsin to pass this law would further advance (the state) as a recognized leader,” he said.

Such law also would be a boon for business at CRT, Cornwell said.