Specific mobile phone recycling process

A specific recycling process for the treatment and valorisation of end-of-life mobile phones, that was developed at pilot plant scale by Indumetal Recycling S.A. and GAIKER, is described. Several thousands end-of-life mobile telephones have been classified and studied in order to elaborate a database with their characteristics. The batteries and other potentially dangerous elements easy to access have been removed and classified in a previous decontamination step. The decontaminated units have been shredded and the capacities of different technologies for the separation of the materials found in the obtained fractions have been evaluated. Individual and combined separation operations based either on density, electrical or magnetic properties have been tested. The composition and the quality of the recovered materials, metals and plastics, have been evaluated and the generated waste streams have been minimized. The whole process has been subjected to environmental and health and safety controls in various stages.