I think the company is Hetzel Elektronik Recycling GmbH. I was right
when I said Nuremberg. I googled "Hetzel Nuremberg recycling" and found
a number of references but no web site.
Brian
Brian Ellis wrote:
> Gordon
>
> I can't really give you more details. The info was obtained from an
> informal lecture I attended in Switzerland about 8 years ago, I think.
> It was organised by a co-operative effort between two clubs. I'll see
> whether I can find out more. There were slides showing the machine I
> mentioned and diagrams showing how it worked. I think I could still make
> a rough sketch from memory.
>
> I don't know whether there is any intellectual property in the design.
>
> It was an ad hoc machine made by the recycling company.
>
> The same company also recycles CRTs. They cut off the faceplate which is
> reused as is, after eliminating the phosphors and the external coatings.
> The funnel is smashed for remelting. The electron gun and shadow mask
> (pure nickel, except for the barium oxide coating on the cathode and the
> ceramic insulation round the heater wire) is sent to a nickel smelter.
> If I remember correctly, they were still running at a loss on CRTs at
> the time of the lecture, but they were hoping to reach profitability
> within a year, as more CRTs were delivered.
>
> They also recycle gold from connectors and one or two other items from
> electronics.
>
> I think the company is an Aktiensgesselschaft, privately owned. If I
> remember correctly, they may have received some start-up help, but I'm
> not sure.
>
> The part I don't agree with is that, as a believer in the notion of
> sustainability, it is incumbent on us to recycle as much as we can
> rather than deplete mineral resources. The economics are difficult, in
> some cases, but I believe that it is better to pay over the odds today
> and have an extra n years of supply, rather than have to pay m times
> over the odds during those n years because there is a depletion of
> supply from the normal sources. I do not go along with the idea of
> costly mining of landfills as a source of "ore" because different metals
> will deplete at different times. Prevention is better than cure!
>
> Brian
>
> Davy, Gordon wrote:
>
>> Brian,
>>
>> As you've done many times before, you have provided very interesting
>> information. Thank you! The process you've described for recycling
>> circuit card assemblies to recover solder sounds very clever. I'd like
>> to learn more: from what you posted, it appears that it was developed
>> by an entrepreneur, not, say, a university professor or an
>> evironmental activist. What more can you share?
>>
>> You have said that the process is cost-effective. I take that to mean
>> that the value of the recovered solder is sufficient to cover the
>> costs of collection, the process itself, disposal of what's left, with
>> enough extra to provide an adequate profit. (I'd say it has a better
>> chance of economic success than attempting to make a profit selling
>> glass from recycled CRTs, where the competition is sand and lead.) If
>> that is really so, then the company that owns the process ought to be
>> advertising for discarded electronic assemblies, and looking for
>> franchisees - around the world.
>>
>> Let's get the word out to the capitals where mandatory (subsidized)
>> recycling is being considered, that they can drop their efforts, since
>> self-sustaining recycling of electronic products is coming. Let's
>> encourage the legislators to reverse themselves on prohibiting lead in
>> electronics, to support the economics. (Of course, there will continue
>> to be a market for tin-lead solder, even with the RoHS directive
>> keeping it out of many types of electronic products, so even without
>> this support it shouldn't be necessary to separate the two metals.)
>>
>> As you know, my objection is not to recycling but to coercion, where
>> the benefit of the mandated activity (or the harm from the prohibited
>> activity) has never been weighed, openly and rigorously, against the
>> associated costs. (Part of my objection to the superficially appealing
>> but pernicious precautionary principle is that it was adopted by
>> legislators and others as a basis for making important decisions
>> without itself receiving public scrutiny and debate.) I'm all for
>> recycling automobiles, and as long as people aren't forced to pay for
>> it, anything else, including electronic products. It bothers me, too,
>> to see the entropy increase of potentially salvageable items being
>> destroyed, but it doesn't bother me as much as being told that I have
>> to pay to salvage them (a greater entropy increase), without some
>> substantial and documented benefit. More power to the enterprise
>> willing to take
>> unwanted items and extract value from them.
>>
>> I'm glad that you say you agree with me in part, but which half is it
>> that you don't agree with me on?
>>
>> Gordon Davy
>> Baltimore, MD
>> [log in to unmask]
>> 410-993-7399
>>
>>
>>
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