DfR for Destructive Assembly - A Recycler's Perspective

by Craig Boswell
Executive Vice President
HOBI International

The recent Electronics Recycling Summit in San Francisco featured a presentation on the migration from manual disassembly for the recycling of electronic devices to destructive disassembly or shredding. This migration is especially apparent in the recycling of small consumer devices such as cellular phones and PDAs. However, a shift to destructive disassembly does not mean that there is no need to consider design for recycling concepts for these products. In fact there are certain design for recycling (DfR) concepts that become even more critical in the destructive disassembly environment.

Destructive disassembly or shredding provides some distinctive advantages for small devices such as handhelds. Materials are liberated automatically through separation technologies such as magnetic rollers and gravity separators eliminating the labor costs usually associated with disassembly. Since many of these products yield minimal material value in the recovery operation, this can represent a significant improvement in the economics of recycling the device. It also eliminates the need to focus on one of the key design for recycling parameters: Time to disassemble. Focusing in the design process on DfR guidelines such as fasteners that are quick to remove is a waste of resources for products that will be put through a destructive disassembly process.

Yet there are other DfR criterion and guidelines that are just as important for the items that will be shredded, or in some cases more important. One such design guideline is allowing easy identification of hazardous materials that are contained within the device. This can be especially critical for items that will be shredded as devices containing LiIon batteries or BeO substrates can represent a significant hazard and risk to recycling company operators. It becomes incumbent on a designer that is committed to DfR principles to ensure that these items are either identified on the outside of the device or easily identified during device evaluation.

Another DfR parameter that stays just as important whatever the recycling methodology is package minimization and the ability of the consumer to recycle those materials. This is especially true with small devices that usually result in the packaging being discarded rather than reused or recycled. Packaging minimization can have a significant effect on the reduction of landfill material during the product life cycle.

Although it is often difficult for the designer to predict what methodology will be used to recycle the device during the design phase, it is an important consideration. In many cases items that have historically been disassembled by hand are now being shredded, but this is not always the case. Regardless of the methodology it is still important that the recyclability be considered in the design phase when the greatest impact can be made.

Below is a summary of some items that represent a hazard, or are often removed prior to an electronics recycler's shredding operation. These items should be easily identifiable and quickly recoverable to assist in the electronics recycling operation.

Craig Boswell is the Executive Vice President of HOBI International, a recycling company specializing in recovery of electronic products at all levels of the value chain. For more information on this, and other recycling-related topics, visit the company web site or contact him at cboswell@hobi.com.