Those most responsible for pollution and environmental degradation belong to the fields of industrial activities of the different spheres of production and services. Therefore it is necessary to take it now! in companies, actions aimed at protecting the environment.
Cuban organizations, with this objective, have begun to incorporate different environmental management tools. The Product Life Cycle Analysis is a tool that focuses primarily on the evaluation of environmental aspects and the potential impacts associated with the product from the extraction of raw materials to their removal through different alternatives, but, organizations frame its application in the production and removal stages, the latter, in the recycling alternative, within the product life cycle.
The main objective of this work is to establish a methodology for the diagnosis of waste management of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), based on the process approach so that the Union of Raw Materials and Materials, belonging to SIME, establishes the strategies to carry out the management of these wastes efficiently and effectively.
Introduction
The Sustainable Development Paradigm arises as a response to the worrying deterioration of the environment and of the relationships between human beings, caused by the characteristics of the model of social, technical and economic development that is currently followed and which can be described as unsustainable in the medium term. Sustainable development can be defined as "a development that meets the needs of the present without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." This definition was first used in 1987 at the UN World Environment Commission.
In the UN Conferences on the environment it has been detected that there is a need to consider the environmental impact, both in the design of products and in the design of processes.
Traditionally, only the environmental impacts caused during product manufacturing or considered during use have been considered. Therefore, if the environmental profile of a certain product is to be evaluated, it will have to be analyzed from the obtaining of the raw materials that make it up to its disposal at the end of its days, that is, the life cycle of the complete product.
The continuous appearance of new and sophisticated electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is a constant in our days. In past decades, the high prices of their acquisition meant that the number of people accessing them was reduced, so that their waste (WEEE) had a low impact on the environment.
Today the reality is different since technological advances have made both production and consumption have reached unthinkable levels. WEEE grows three times faster than the average of Urban Solid Waste (MSW).
To this increase in the production of waste must be added the fact that in its composition we find certain dangerous compounds such as certain heavy metals (mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium), some halogenated substances (CFC - chlorofluorocarbons-), PCB (biphenyls polychlorinated), PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and flame retardants or fire retardant materials such as asbestos and arsenic.
WEEE volume is expected to grow at a rate of at least 3-5% cumulative annually. This means that 16-28% more WEEE will be generated in five years and in 12 years this amount will have doubled. The increase in WEEE occurs at a rate of about three times greater than that corresponding to municipal waste. The evident need for the treatment of these wastes makes it necessary to adopt a series of management strategies and tools.
Cuban organizations, with this objective, must incorporate different environmental management tools, taking into account the analysis of the Product Life Cycle and the potential impacts associated with it, from the extraction of raw materials to their removal through different alternatives.
The main objective of this work is to establish a methodology for the diagnosis of waste management of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), based on the process approach so that the Union of Raw Materials and Materials, belonging to SIME, establishes the strategies to carry out the management of these wastes efficiently and effectively.
Development
Diagnostic Methodology for WEEE management.
Characterization of the waste management company for electrical and electronic equipment.
In our country, the waste management activity is carried out by the Union of Raw Material Recovery Companies (UERMP) belonging to the Ministry of the Iron and Steel Industry (SIME). According to official data, today 6,250 men and women (1999: 6,126) work in the recycling industry. The recovery system encompasses more than three thousand state companies and social institutions in the country, divided into two large subsystems:
- Subsystem for industrial and service companies: legal nature through sales contracts. This is the main source of supplies. State entities must deliver recyclable waste to the Union. Communal Services receives by the RSU that recovers USD $ 30,000 to 40,000 monthly. Subsystem that serves the community. It consists of the national network of Shopping Houses.
The population gives its contribution through the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, which since its creation have assumed the task of collecting raw materials as one of the main tasks of their work, and other mass organizations. More than a million pioneers and more than 3,000 schools participate in the recovery of secondary raw materials through circles of interest.
The Casas de Compra began to be enabled in Cuba as of 1982 as a subsystem. The one in the capital was the first in 1980. Today they form a national network of 270 small establishments located in urban areas with a high population density and are dedicated to buying directly from citizens.
There are also mobiles that move towards low population density communities. In late 1994 the Union was authorized to pay in foreign currency, through the Ministry of Economy and Planning, for the waste purchased from the agencies. In 2000, this institution achieved total sales of production and services for $ 120,000,000, today it is a self-financed organization that represents all the institutions dedicated to the recovery of secondary raw materials. The Union is made up of its headquarters and 15 territorial companies; the Company for the Repair and Dismantling of Industrial Plants; the Explosion Metal Forming Company; the Transport Company; CUREF SA (Cuban-Dutch mixed capital company, created in 1982); the Import-Export Company (DESEQUIP);the Ruiz Aboy Brothers Company (FUNALCO); the Jamaican Scrap and Projects, in Jamaica; the Bahía Honda Ship Disposal, Pinar del Río; the Holguín and Ciego de Ávila Urban Solid Waste Plants. It also has specialized establishments, Villa Clara Plastics Processing Plant, Textile Processing Plant in the province of Havana, and Precious Metal Processing Plants in the provinces of Havana and Las Tunas.and Precious Metal Processing Plants in the provinces of Havana and Las Tunas.and Precious Metal Processing Plants in the provinces of Havana and Las Tunas.
The ranking order of recovery activity at this time is scrap steel, copper, aluminum, cast iron, bronze, stainless steel and other metals, glass containers, paper and cardboard, glass, textile waste, and plastic waste. All this represents two million tons of annual products. It should be noted that they are currently working on new lines of development such as: tires, wood, oils and lubricants, and electrical and electronic equipment.
Electrical and electronic equipment or apparatus (EEE) have become vitally important at the present time due to the increase that this year has produced in our country for this concept and a dizzying increase is expected due to a government policy of replacing EEE with high degree of deterioration, to improve the quality of life of the population, which is why there is a pressing need to efficiently and effectively manage EEE waste.
The company of electronic components and precious metals is currently within the UERMP, the company established to treat Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
Currently, a laboratory has been set up with modern Italian technologies for the recovery of electronic scrap, gold, platinum, silver and other precious metals. It is in the process of being assembled in the Habanero town of Caimito.
With the implementation of this investment, the UERMP intends to increase the volume, diversity and quality of WEEE management.
Waste management of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
a) Classification of EEE
In Cuba there are no regulations that allow the classification of EEE. From studies carried out, it was possible to conclude that the following are the most generalized classifications at the international level:
Classification of the European Union (EU): In general, it classifies electrical and electronic equipment into 10 groups of products or devices that, at the end of their useful life, may constitute waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment:
1. Large appliances such as fridges, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers, etc.
2. Small appliances such as vacuum cleaners, irons, hair dryers, etc.
3. Telecommunication devices, such as centralized data processors (minicomputers, printers), and personal computing elements (personal computers, folder computers, copy machines, telexes, telephones, etc.).
4. Consumer appliances, such as radio sets, televisions, video cameras, etc.
5. Light fixtures, such as luminaires, fluorescent tubes, high intensity discharge lamps etc.
6. Electric and electronic tools, such as drills, saws, and sewing machines.
7. Toys, such as electric trains and cars, video consoles, and video games.
8. Medical devices, such as radiotherapy devices, cardiology, dialysis, etc.
9. Measurement and control instruments, such as thermostats, smoke detectors or heat regulators.
10. Automatic vending machines, hot drinks, bottles, cans, or solid products.
Another classification of EEE, where they are classified from the point of view of production, marketing and consumption, is as follows:
White line
Brown Line and, Gray Line
The white line refers to household appliances related to cold, washing, cooking and comfort. The brown line refers to consumer devices such as television, radio, videos, etc. and the gray line to the equipment used in Information Technology and telecommunications devices.
These three lines do not exhaust all the devices that fall under the mandate of the proposal for an EU Directive, but they do constitute, when they reach the end of their useful life, the origin of the majority of EEE waste.
b) Classification of WEEE
EEE waste (WEEE) represents a complex mixture of materials and components that affect the environment and leads to the appearance of increasing problems when they reach the stage of their removal.
Due to the content of potentially dangerous substances, electrical and electronic equipment can give rise to major environmental problems if they are not properly pretreated. To the extent that 90% of WEEE is deposited in landfills, incinerated or recovered without any pretreatment, a large part of the pollutants found in municipal waste come from WEEE, so the environmental burden of WEEE is big.
Regarding the characterization of the potential danger of WEEE, there are different studies. Their results have recently been reviewed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The studies found that a large percentage of hazardous substances are concentrated in a relatively small number of components and groups of products, as summarized below:
- Cadmium-90% in rechargeable batteries Lead - More than 90% in batteries, with small contributions from solders for PBAs17, fluorescent lamps and tubes Lead oxide (used in glass) - more than 80% in CRTs (Cathode Ray Tubes) while the rest comes from lamps and fluorescent tubes. Mercury - More than 90% comes from batteries and position sensors with a small contribution from relays and fluorescent tubes.
- Hexavalent chromium - used as a corrosion inhibitor in the refrigeration system of absorption refrigerators.PCB - (Polychlorinated biphenyls) more than 90% come from capacitors with PCBs.TBBA - (Tetra - bromo -biphenyl A) more than 90% comes from PBAs18, in PWBs and in components Octa and deca BDE - (octa- and decabromo diphenyl ether) - more than 80% within computers, with lower contributions from TV sets and kitchen electrical appliances Domestic CFCs Chloroparaffins - more than 90% in the PVC of the cables.
- Other environmentally relevant materials or categories of materials identified in EEA waste are:
- Silver, copper, barium and antimony. PCN - polychlorinated naphthalate - which is used to impregnate paper-coated cables in capacitors. Liquid crystals - more than 200 substances, many of them problematic, can be part of the liquid crystal.
- Optical material: indium, gallium, arsenides, and cadmium
- Copper-alloyed beryllium used for contact springs in low-signal connectors High-temperature superconductors containing appreciable amounts of mercury.
The size of the environmental impact that can be derived from the presence of these dangerous substances depends fundamentally on their particular toxicity and on the amounts that can be released into the environment as a consequence of the management operations once the life of the Devices has ended.
Taking into account the previous information, it can be stated that both the analysis of the problem related to WEEE, as well as the conception of strategies, actions and mitigation measures must be based on knowledge of:
- The amount of hazardous substances accumulated in the products in use by the company. The amount of these substances that are currently being placed on the markets. The applicable environmental regulations. The environmental impacts that may arise from the processing and elimination of the accounted quantities of EEE waste.
c) Treatment of WEEE
Currently, 400 tons of WEEE are generated in the country, the effective and efficient treatment of WEEE is limited by the lack of appropriate technologies that allow the different types of WEEE that are generated in the country to be adequately treated. The most widespread strategy for the treatment of these wastes is incineration, which is sometimes not the most appropriate and many wastes are stored for long periods of time due to not having a management strategy established. Hence, many companies such as ETECSA, COPEXTEL, etc., have stored large amounts of WEEE.
The waste from the white line does not have a possibility of treatment, since the UERMP company and the fragmentation companies of end-of-life vehicles do not have the necessary means to pre-treat (Eliminate CFCs and other dangerous substances) the devices before proceeding. recycling operations).
There are no decommissioning facilities capable of handling the televisions and monitors that are generated.
The appearance of environmental problems attributable to the substances contained in this type of waste is prolonged over time as they are attached to products for both domestic and industrial use. The direct threat to the environment begins not only when they are uncontrollably disposed of in landfills, but also when human intervention is necessary in relation to the treatment and disposal of WEEE.
The disadvantages of the current unregulated situation are many and in summary form they are presented below:
- Uncontrolled elimination of significant amounts of EEE waste, Increasing accumulation of hazardous substances in homes and businesses. There is currently no large-scale experience regarding EEE waste management techniques or optimal substance separation schemes. hazardous in clean streams to ensure minimization of environmental impacts. Future management techniques for EEE waste will have to be designed for old and obsolete products.
In general, the pre-treatment techniques applied to WEEE can be:
Non-Destructive
Disassembly Partial / Destructive Disassembly
Fully Destructive Treatment
The key issue is determining the different options for the following WEEE treatment processes including both economic and environmental impacts of the entire WEEE management chain after collection.
There is a broad consensus that the starting point for the chain of post-collection management of EEE waste will be the so-called WEEE processing centers. These will be operated by industrial actors with the vision of treating and dismantling WEEE into structural elements to be reused, recycled or disposed of. The UERMP is currently working on this variant.
At the moment, the dismantling work is basically being carried out manually. However, automation and robotization are expected to be gradually introduced in the future as a result of progress in design for recycling and with the support of new instruments.
The two main alternatives for treatment and processing are of the type “disassembly + reuse of components versus fragmentation, fusion / incineration for metal / energy recovery”.
The key questions within these strategies are around the optimal disassembly level prior to fragmentation and regarding the acceptability of the environmental consequences of energy recovery and melting of metals. Given the great variety of WEEE, an independent analysis will be carried out for each sector that generates waste.
d) Management alternatives for WEEE
- Systems by trademarks make sense, only when the competitiveness of the producer is reinforced through his control of recycling or reuse practices. At the extreme would be the system for renting products to the user and the total management of reuse and recycling by the producer. Municipal-based systems: local communities are obliged to collect the waste from EEE, transfer it to the agent in charge of recycling or elimination and to load with the totality of the operation of financing. Systems based on the distributors: The obligation of the collection rests on the actors that have placed the EEE in the market.Alternative solutions within this system are systems based on retailers (anonymous products) or on trademarks (separate products according to the brand). Collection can be brand specific or mixed. Combined systems: systems commissioned by its members to organize and finance the management of EEE waste. Agreement systems between community, municipality and management companies.
In Cuba the most used alternative is the combined systems.
e) Legislative aspects
The UERMP, for the management of WEEE, basically takes into account Decree Law 1288: 1975.
Below is a set of laws to be completed for the effective management of WEEE.
- Decree-Law 1288 (1975) and its regulations on the recovery of raw materials, whose Article 1 states: «The organisms and other State agencies are obliged to collect the waste of raw materials, products and reusable materials that are not used by the themselves in the production and service processes, in order to be recovered for the purposes established in this Law. ”Cuban Standard NC 93-05: 86 Communal Hygiene. Solid Waste, Storage, Collection and Transportation. Hygienic-sanitary requirements State Committee for Standardization (1986), City of Havana Law No. 41 15.08.1987 Public Health Law Law No. 59 15.10.1987 Civil Code Establishes civil liability for damage to the environment. Amended by Decree-Law No. 140/1993, Law No. 81 07/11/1997 Environmental Law.Its purpose is to establish the principles that govern environmental policy and the basic norms to regulate the environmental management of the State, and the actions of citizens and society in general, in order to protect the environment and contribute to achieving the objectives of the sustainable development of the country. Among the projects of works or activities that must be submitted to an environmental impact assessment, detailed in articles 28 and 29, are facilities for the handling, transportation, storage, treatment and final disposal of hazardous waste (paragraph d) and sanitary landfills (paragraph u). Resolution No. 168 (CITMA) 09.10.1995 Regulations for conducting and approving environmental impact assessments and granting environmental licenses.It establishes the procedure by which the environmental impact assessments must be carried out and the process for their approval, as well as the pertinent for the issuance of environmental licenses. NC 93-06 1986. Communal hygiene Solid waste. Treatment and final disposal. Hygienic-sanitary requirements Resolution 87/99: Hazardous Waste and Other waste. Resolution No. 65/99: Schedule for the control of Ozone Depleting Substances Ozone layer substances and the equipment they contain.Schedule for the control of Ozone Depleting Substances Ozone layer substances and the equipment they contain.Schedule for the control of Ozone Depleting Substances Ozone layer substances and the equipment they contain.
3. Actions to implement
- Establish a classification for EEE at the national level. Make an inventory of the sources of waste generation of EEE. Establish the classification of WEEE at the national level according to the type of AEEA based on current legislation to classify hazardous WEEE. Make an inventory of WEEE. in the country according to the classification of EEE and / or WEEE. Assess the technical and economic feasibility of the different alternatives for the management and treatment of the WEEE. Train personnel in new trends for management and from the technical point of view according to the technologies that are applied.
Conclusions
- In Cuba, there is currently no methodology for the management of EEE waste, so it is necessary to work on a management strategy. The management of WEEE aims to maximize prevention to ensure that uncontrolled dumping does not occur and to minimize the environmental impacts produced throughout the waste management chain. This includes the steps of collection, disassembly, reuse, treatment, recycling or energy recovery, disposal. It is generally estimated that 90% of the environmental impact produced by household appliances is exerted during their use. Consequently, there are many actors in the system who believe that the reuse option may not be interesting from the point of view of maximizing environmental protection.Currently, there are no experiences regarding large-scale WEEE management schemes or techniques. This makes it difficult to accept common solutions. Comparing with packaging waste that is managed centrally by a relatively small number of economic operators, in the case of WEEE, there is a need to assess whether the country is prepared or trained to operate collection systems for all categories of WEEE. It should be organized in a systematic and transparent way in order to contribute to the establishment of a consensus on a viable implementation period at appropriate levels of prevention, collection, treatment, reuse, recycling, recovery and destination of WEEE. it is the key issue for success in WEEE management.Regardless of the financial model chosen, it is very important that the consumer has the possibility of observing, at the time of purchase, information indicating the responsible collection scheme for WEEE management and the associated recycling rates. This will increase consumer awareness of the cost and associated infrastructure for WEEE management.
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