Overview
- According to the EPA, less than 20% of unwanted cell phones are recycled each year in the United States. However, some estimates say that only 10–15% of phones are recycled. This is despite the fact that cell phones have the highest recycling market of any electronic material. Recycling cell phones and other electronic waste can have significant environmental benefits, and the materials can be used to make new devices, such as wind turbines, electric car batteries, and solar panels. Locally, Best Buy, Recycle Ann Arbor Drop-Off Station, Staples, UbreakIfix - Canton and Brighton accept a variety of electronics for recycling (call for individual store details). In addition, Washtenaw County holds multiple County Clean-Up Day events throughout the year.
- Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in rechargeable home electronics like cell phones, laptops, tablets, electric cars, e-scooters, etc... and they account for nearly 90% of grid storage. (Source: https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/energy-storage-2019#:~:text=Lithium%2Dion%20batteries%20are%20by,competitive%20for%20longer%2Dterm%20storage.) Li-batteries are popular because they are unlikely to fail unless they are damaged. However, new resources of lithium must be mined to maintain an adequate supply, and the process relies heavily on billions of gallons of water a year for extraction.
- Washtenaw County, Michigan's Resilient Washtenaw plan aims to make the county carbon neutral by 2030 as an organization and by 2035 as a community. As the county and the state of Michigan hone in on their climate goals and rely more and more on batteries, experts are concerned about Michigan’s rising critical-mineral demand.
- Lithium has the advantage of being nearly-infinitely recyclable, so recycling home elections is vital to a steady supply. Recycling alone won’t provide enough materials to make mining critical minerals obsolete, but the ReCell Center, a national collaboration of industry, universities and labs improving recycling technologies, says that recycled materials can cut battery production costs by 10 to 30 percent, which would help bring down the price of electric vehicle batteries. With Michigan being a manufacturing powerhouse, the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is offering $4.75 million in grants for university research about critical mineral recycling as an effort to increase critical-mineral supply and head off supply-chain shortages. (Source: *directly quoted* https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigans-electric-energy-future-could-be-wasting-away-junk-drawer)
- The primary danger from battery-powered devices comes from overheating, which can lead to difficult to extinguish fires and explosions. For this reason, unused electronics should not be forgotten in a junk drawer or stored in a non-climate-controlled location like a garage, and recycling is also a safety measure. Storing old phones and other devices is safer if the battery is left uncharged. Another safety measure is to remove the battery and store it separately from equipment like drills, leaf-blowers, lawn mowers, etc... when not in use. The Next County Cleanup Day: August 24 – City of Ypsilanti Registration opens July 15 at 9:00 a.m. Register here.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and when's the last time you bought a new cell phone? How about a new laptop? Well, sooner or later, the batteries in those devices are going to need to be replaced or disposed of. Those items and other old electronics are too often disposed of improperly, and it is detectably bad for the environment. I'm David Fair, and on today's Issues of the Environment, we're going to talk about increased efforts at electronics recycling in our community. And our guest is Theo Eggermont. Theo serves as Washtenaw County Director of Public Works. And welcome back to WEMU, Theo!
Theo Eggermont: Thanks for having me on!
David Fair: The Environmental Protection Agency says that less than 20% of unwanted cell phones are actually recycled each year, and that seems to me as a problem. Is that about what you see in Washtenaw County?
Theo Eggermont: We don't get any specific data back about recycling. It's hard to capture that because a lot of people send their phones in when they get a new phone. And that's definitely what we recommend is get rid of your old one when you get your new one. And often, there's like a take-back program. And that's a great way to get those cell phones recycled.
David Fair: Well, certainly, those phones and those that are disposed of improperly and laptop computers are among the items that have these lithium-ion batteries. They certainly have a purpose and a function, but, as I'm sure you'll attest, they're also a real problem.
Theo Eggermont: Yeah. I think the main point that I'd like to get across today is that those batteries should get to the right place, and they should not go curbside because that causes a lot of issues if they get put in either the trash or the recycling, because, along the way, they can get compacted either in the garbage truck or in the recycling truck. And that can start those trucks on fire. Additionally, when it reaches the end destination or the processing facility for recycling, they load those materials up with big machinery. And if they run over one of those, it can cause a fire. And a lot of what is actually majority of what's in a recycling sorting facility is paper. And so, then that causes a lot of issues on their end because that can start additional fires.
David Fair: In addition to that, you made me think. Are there places in my house I should not be storing these if I've got an old device I'm not using?
Theo Eggermont: We recommend just getting rid of th., I think the chances of one of those actually causing an issue in a draw is relatively low. But there is a chance that if the terminals end up connecting, if you, say, have a lot of lithium ion batteries in the same place, there is a small chance that those can actually cause a runaway fire. And so, it's best practice just to get rid of those. We also recommend that, for lithium batteries, that you tape the ends either as soon as you're done with them or before you bring them in for recycling. And when I say recycling, I mean to one of the designated locations that accepts batteries, not in your curbside.
David Fair: This is Issues of the Environment on 89 one WEMU. And we're talking electronics recycling with Theo Eggermont. Theo is Director of Public Works in Washtenaw County. Now, the good news is that lithium and copper and some of the other components are recyclable. But how difficult a process is it, Theo, to extract these elements for reuse?
Theo Eggermont: I'm not sure on the processing side how difficult it is to reuse them. My assumption is, and usually this is a pretty good assumption across various recycling forms, is that it's a lot easier than digging up those materials from the ground and mining them and processing them. So, I know there's a lot of energy that's saved and a lot of water that saved by recycling them, as opposed to mining and extracting things. There's also a conservation perspective there, too, of when we have to mine new materials, we're disrupting that area.
David Fair: It's a finite material. And we could run out if we don't recycle.
Theo Eggermont: Exactly!
David Fair: Well, is the process of...on your end, is it an expensive notion to take care of these kinds of items?
Theo Eggermont: There's certainly staff time that's involved, but we actually receive a credit. Lithium is something that has more value than a lot of the other materials that we're seeing get brought in. And so, we actually receive a credit. So, that's why you tend to see a little bit more accessibility for lithium recycling than some other forms of batteries. But it's certainly something that we want to have people get rid of out of their homes and to us, regardless of value.
David Fair: You know, we are in the slow process of transitioning to an electric vehicle market. It continues to grow on an annual basis, perhaps not as fast as many would like, but we're moving in that direction. How might that impact the recycling industry? And are you having to start to explore what it might mean for you?
Theo Eggermont: Yeah. Car batteries or something that we certainly want to be aware of. It's not something that we'd be able to take just because we wouldn't be able to separate them out. We have a small staff, and because there's so much value, I anticipate that that market will emerge more and more. But I know that EPA is just getting caught up there. They were doing some proposed legislation or rules about how they should be collected, and that input is being gathered. And they're expected to put rules on those next year for how both solar panels and electric vehicle lithium batteries are collected in order to have clarity around what those rules are and encourage recycling of those materials.
David Fair: Our conversation with Washtenaw County Director of Public Works Theo Eggermont continues on 89 one WEMU's Issues of the Environment. And we're talking recycling and, in specific, electronic recycling. Now, I'm glad to say that another one of Washtenaw County's clean-up days is right around the corner. And I believe the next is in Ypsilanti. Is that right, Theo?
Theo Eggermont: Yeah. August 24th. So, we're looking forward to that. I think we've still got spots available.
David Fair: That means there is a registration process that people have to go through, right?
Theo Eggermont: That's correct. We just started that last year. And people have really given us positive feedback on that because you used to have to wait for an hour or hour and a half.
David Fair: I have been in those lines. Yeah.
Theo Eggermont: Yeah. No one likes being in those.
David Fair: Yeah. No fun on either side, whether you're collecting or whether you're dropping off.
Theo Eggermont: Yeah. And so, with this year now, we've seen five or ten cars in front of you instead of 100. So, it's a much better process for everyone.
David Fair: And to register, it's simply an online process?
Theo Eggermont: Yep! You just go to our county clean-up page at Washtenaw.org/cleanup.
David Fair: Now, obviously, recycling old electronics is important as you've laid out throughout the course of our conversation. What else is accepted at Clean-Up Day?
Theo Eggermont: We take scrap metal, hazardous waste, bulk appliances. We're especially looking to try to get those freon appliances, because those can be difficult to get rid of. And those have a lot of carbon equivalent, with the refrigerant in there. As I mentioned, household hazardous waste, scrap metal tires, that kind of thing--and bulky waste, so couches and mattresses and things.
David Fair: Those are some rather big items, in some cases, and difficult to handle and deal with on your end. Is there an associated cost with drop-off days?
Theo Eggermont: We want to keep things free because we don't want to discourage people from coming, but because we're not a tax-funded agency and because these are very expensive to run, we request that people give a $15 donation, but that is optional. Our biggest goal is trying to get this material to where it should go and not in roadside ditches or other places.
David Fair: The clean-up days are nothing new. It's been going on for years. And I'm just curious. Have you seen interest in it grow over time?
Theo Eggermont: Yeah, we certainly saw a lot of growth, especially pandemic and shortly after, with our registration system. We actually have to put a cap on it. And so, we do fill up, usually about the week or two beforehand, but they're open for roughly six weeks. So, there's a good amount of time to get in a spot. But there are lots of alternatives if you are not able to get in a county clean-up day for those things. Usually, Recycle Ann Arbor, the drop-off station, is a good place to take electronics and bulky waste and other materials that we typically accept, except for the hazardous waste, which, in case, there's the home toxic center and the new HHW center out in Salem Township at the landfill to bring those materials year-round.
David Fair: There are a lot of great options. Well, obviously, recycling is important. Recycling electronics is important. And I'm curious as to whether or not there's a way to measure through these clean-up days and through these programs that you just mentioned, how much waste is being kept out of the landfills and better protecting the environment as a result?
Theo Eggermont: Yeah. So, we track all of our metrics, and we put those in an annual report. Of course, we do take material that ends up at a landfill. So, bulky waste--that goes directly to the landfill. Some of our home toxics, we're able to reuse and put back into new products or at least for things that are combustible, we can convert those to energy. But things like paint, right now, that gets solidified and then goes to landfill. So, it's not a perfect measure of everything that we get if that's recycled or not. But if you bring it to us, it's certainly getting put into the best location that it can for what we're able to do here in the county for you.
David Fair: I always appreciate our conversations, and I thank you for making time and sharing the information today!
Theo Eggermont: Yeah, thanks for having me on! And I'll just put that plug out there again. Don't put your battery--your lithium batteries--in your curbside because that causes fires down the road. And that's a safety concern.
David Fair: That is Theo Eggermont. He is Director of Public Works in Washtenaw County. He's been our guest on Issues of the Environment. For more information on electronics recycling and links that will further help you, simply pay a visit to our website at wemu.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the Office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner. We bring it to you each Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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