Light Bulb Ban.

There are not many materials worth recovering in most electricals, the most valuable probably being steel and to some extent copper. The underlying problem is that sorting tiny pieces of valuable materials from the bulk is very difficult indeed, and the purity of the sorted materials is very low, which means that much more cost and energy goes into purifying them. Electronics of a consumer kind contain almost no precious metals, and the biggest value may well be in the tin in solder. Consumer chips only have a tiny content of aluminium, everything else is epoxy plastic or sand, and perhaps copper pins for old fashioned stuff. As some of you know, recycling small bits of small cables is difficult, although may get you a few quid occasionally. The plastic parts are probably best to use for heat, although PVC has various pollution problems and difficult byproducts of combustion such as dioxins and chlorine. A good deal of your "recycling" which you sort and wash (bad energy use) ends up in landfill, whatever your local politicians say, the best materials are PET bottles, steel tins and various forms of paper. The strangest part is that most councils don't want larger plastic items, black plastic of any kind, tetra-packs etc. These don't suit them so are dumped (in Bristol often just thrown in the road). The economics of waste recycling are marginal at best, although somewhat distorted by the landfill tax.


Does any of this sound familiar when considering renewable energy? The BIG picture is often not considered at all!

There are not many materials worth recovering in most electricals, the most valuable probably being steel and to some extent copper. The underlying problem is that sorting tiny pieces of valuable materials from the bulk is very difficult indeed, and the purity of the sorted materials is very low, which means that much more cost and energy goes into purifying them. Electronics of a consumer kind contain almost no precious metals, and the biggest value may well be in the tin in solder. Consumer chips only have a tiny content of aluminium, everything else is epoxy plastic or sand, and perhaps copper pins for old fashioned stuff. As some of you know, recycling small bits of small cables is difficult, although may get you a few quid occasionally. The plastic parts are probably best to use for heat, although PVC has various pollution problems and difficult byproducts of combustion such as dioxins and chlorine. A good deal of your "recycling" which you sort and wash (bad energy use) ends up in landfill, whatever your local politicians say, the best materials are PET bottles, steel tins and various forms of paper. The strangest part is that most councils don't want larger plastic items, black plastic of any kind, tetra-packs etc. These don't suit them so are dumped (in Bristol often just thrown in the road). The economics of waste recycling are marginal at best, although somewhat distorted by the landfill tax.


Does any of this sound familiar when considering renewable energy? The BIG picture is often not considered at all!