Libano
LEBANESE COMPANY OFFERS A SOLUTION FOR THE RECYCLING OF E-WASTE
E-PlastR, a Lebanese company, has offered a new innovative way to deal with hazardous and toxic electronicwaste (e-waste). Globally, in 2019, e-waste reached 53.6 million tons with only 17% of it being collected and recycled. In Lebanon, e-waste was recorded at circa 20,000 tons per annum with a 3% annual growth rate, as per the InternationalTelecommunications Union. Demand for electronic devices is increasing and the discarding of such products creates toxic, non-biodegradable waste which pollutes the environment. E-waste contains e-plastics which contain Brominated Fire Retardant (BFR) which is highly toxic and are made using polymer blends that are hard to recycle. It is worth noting that E-PlastR is one of the winners in the second edition of DAWERR Ideathon 2022 funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). According to the President & Founder of Ecoserv, regionally, demand for hi-grade plastics is increasing and is estimated at US$ 2.5 billion, which is currently being filled by imports, therefore this initiative could help in regulating flexibility issues for product offerings. E-PlastR will work on recycling e-plastics through the removal of toxic elements from them thus creating a pure form of the polymer. This in turn, returns the value of the important raw material that was previously unsellable and toxic to the environment. The extracted plastics are fed back into the industrial sector post processing to serve as an alternative to high-grade polymers in the production of 3D printing filaments, as per the President & Founder of Ecoserv. E-PlastR faced many challenges from the technical and operational perspective. The former was caused by the issue of finding the right combination of green solvents for the extraction of clean polymers without any harm to the environment, the latter was caused by the current situation in Lebanon which led to administrative and logistics issues. The President & Founder of Ecoserv further stressed on the importance of environmental sustainability and positive impact of initiatives on the local circular economy. (ICE BEIRUT)
Fonte notizia: Bank Audi, Lebanon Weekly Monitor, 27 March - 2 April 2023