[P2assist] Switch from CRTs to LCDs won´t be a walk in the park, recyclers say

Tue, 12 Nov 2002 07:45:04 -0500

 Switch from CRTs to LCDs won´t be a walk in the park, recyclers say        
 By Joe Truini                                                              

 From the November 11, 2002 Issue                                           

 The gradual changeover from cathode ray tube to liquid-crystal displays    
 may make electronics disposal less expensive for companies and safer for   
 the environment, but the switch will also provide significant challenges   
 to recyclers.                                                              

 "The more we can move toward LCD displays away from CRTs, I think, the     
 more beneficial it´ll be to the environment," said Robert Houghton,        
 president of Redemtech, a Columbus, Ohio-based electronics recycler.       

 Gateway Inc. officials decided last month to offer LCD monitors in their   
 standard consumer computer packages instead of CRT monitors. Other         
 computer makers are expected to follow suit, especially with the           
 decreasing price of LCDs.                                                  

 Manufacturers use fluorescent lamps, which contain mercury, to backlight   
 LCDs. Most monitors contain two lamps, said Wayne E. Gums, vice president  
 of Guaranteed Recycling Xperts Inc., a Denver electronics recycler. The    
 lamps vary in length from 8 inches to 14 inches and in diameter from       
 slightly larger than pencil lead up to about the diameter of a pencil, he  
 said.                                                                      

 Desktop LCDs contain an average of 4 milligrams of mercury, according to a 
 2001 life-cycle analysis by the University of Tennessee Center for Clean   
 Products & Clean Technologies that compares CRTs and LCDs. The U.S.        
 Environmental Protection Agency awarded a grant to the university to       
 conduct research so it could provide a scientific baseline of life-cycle   
 impacts to help electronics makers improve their products. The report is   
 found at www.epa.gov/oppt/ dfe/pubs/comp-dic/lca.                          

 At 4 milligrams per LCD, it would take about 7,000 monitors to generate 1  
 ounce of mercury.                                                          

 "It´s minuscule, but it´s going to be minuscule times many millions," Gums 
 said. "There´s not a lot in any one of them, but you multiply by the       
 number of units that are going to be coming out there, that´s even a       
 crazier waste problem than the lead. You´ve eliminated the leaded glass    
 problem, but you´ve increased the leaded circuit boards and added two      
 mercury lamps."                                                            

 But LCDs have at least three advantages over CRTs when it comes to         
 end-of-life management, Houghton said. Most of the 100 to 200 LCDs that    
 Redemtech receives each month are repairable. The company can resell those 
 units, lessening the cost to its customers. LCDs also contain much less    
 lead. Finally, they are less expensive to handle because the components    
 are more valuable.                                                         

 "It´s not cheap to recycle a lead-content CRT," he said. "It´s going to be 
 a lot cheaper to recycle a flat-panel."                                    

 But taking apart LCDs is tricky, Gums said. His company disassembles each  
 piece of electronic equipment it receives. Workers must carefully remove   
 fluorescent mercury lamps to avoid breaking them and releasing the         
 mercury. Laptops are challenging because they contain lamps that are 6 to  
 12 inches in length and the diameter of pencil lead.                       

 In January, Guaranteed Recycling Xperts is raising its fee from $20 to $25 
 per unit to handle LCD monitors and laptops because of the increased       
 amount of labor needed to deal with them, Gums said. It´s also costly to   
 pay a fluorescent lamp recycler to take care of the bulbs.                 

 "We´re having to figure out interesting, new, creative ways to handle      
 these things," he said. "They´re great for customer use, but I´ll tell you 
 what: They´re a pain in the butt to disassemble if you´re going to be      
 careful with them."                                                        

 Contact Waste News reporter Joe Truini at (330) 865-6166 or                
 jtruini@crain.com                                                          

Karen Hales
Recycling/Solid Waste Specialist
TOWN of CARY

919-462-3873 voice
919-469-4304 fax
khales@ci.cary.nc.us
http://www.townofcary.org