e-plastic<\/a> flake that performs comparably to flakes from virgin feedstock.<\/p>\n\u201cWhen it comes to end-of-life recycling, one of the more challenging pieces has always been plastics,\u201d Miller said. \u201cWe were growing concerned and took steps to mitigate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making the flake contaminant-free was a key part of that process, he said. Removing brominated flame retardants that are used in some electronics ensures the product complies with standards set by the Basel Convention, which restricts the international transport of potentially hazardous materials; bromine falls onto that list due to its health and environmental impacts. That allows companies to buy the flake, pelletize and convert it into products of their choosing without worry, keeping more materials out of landfills.<\/p>\n
Quantum\u2019s feedstock comes from across Canada, as the company partners with municipalities and businesses to obtain electronics. The line has enough capacity to handle all the plastic Quantum generates internally, Miller said, and the company is buying shred outputs from other e-recyclers, allowing Quantum to upgrade its commodity output and act as a downstream processor.<\/p>\n
The system can process around 4 metric tons an hour. It\u2019s been operational for around three months without issue, Miller said, and is scalable to meet growing demand amid Ontario\u2019s extended producer responsibility framework, which will require more manufacturers to seek domestic processing options.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis investment reflects our confidence in Ontario\u2019s approach to electronics recycling \u2013 a competitive framework that rewards operators who perform, invest and innovate,\u201d said Gary Diamond, Quantum president.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the potential reach extends beyond Canada, Miller said. The company is looking to get a test load from a New York state-based company to see how international processing goes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see this as a North American solution,\u201d said Miller, who noted the system can help producers close the loop on their materials. \u201cIt\u2019s the kind of infrastructure that makes a genuinely circular economy for electronics more than an aspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new line also helps Quantum live up to its sustainability goals. Calling Quantum a life cycle services company, Miller said it\u2019s reusing and refurbishing more devices than it recycles, but there\u2019s room to do more on all fronts \u2013 especially with e-recycling, a segment in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates only 24% of materials are recycled; plastics from electronic items are recycled at roughly a 6% rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of our evolution is to be more than a recycler. We want to help producers and companies navigate the entire life cycle. This is just another piece in that journey,\u201d he said. \u201cWe think this plastics line is another example of us doing what we say we are going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A multi-million-dollar investment will enable a Canadian electronics recycling company to put end-of-life plastics back to use. Toronto-based…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,11556,11557,11558],"class_list":["post-23145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-e-plastics","tag-electronics","tag-hard-to-recycle-materials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}