Most of the items were still working, and one tonne of good quality e-waste was repaired and resold through the Tip Shop. This included items like laptops, lamps, and speakers.
The Tip Shop and Echo already work together to recycle TVs and monitors, and Echo also purchases small amounts of e-scrap from the Tip Shop.
Items that weren't good enough to be sold for reuse were processed for recycling by Echo Tech.
Echo Tech chief strategy officer David Moynahan explains the e-waste recycling process.
“We start by sorting material to look for any equipment that can be refurbished and reused or has parts that can be removed for future use. Items are then sorted by type, for example, cables are grouped into different grades.”
Some items are then dismantled by hand to separate printed circuit boards and other valuable components.
David explains, “For bulk processing, machines shred materials into smaller pieces. Then the different materials are sorted. Steel is removed by magnets, aluminium and copper are separated by electric currents, and plastics and glass are sorted using special optical equipment.
“Recovered materials are then responsibly shipped to certified processors, who specialise in turning them into materials that can be used for manufacturing new electronic products or other industrial applications.”