Pyrocycle

Management of the rapidly growing and highly hazardous electronic waste stream is one of the main environmental challenges currently facing Canada, and most other countries. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), between 20 and 50 million metric tons of e-waste are disposed of globally every year, and this is predicted to increase to between 40 and 70 million tons per year by 2018. Within Canada, volumes of e-waste are reportedly increasing by 4% each year. One source has estimated that more than 5 million computers and monitors alone are thrown away annually by Canadian households and businesses. These form only part of a much larger E-waste stream that includes mobile phones, televisions, office equipment and white goods. Pyrocycle propose an innovative solution for recycling the end-of-life electronics waste based on a new thermochemical process, which could greatly facilitate moving forward to produce clean and high quality products including precious metals like gold, silver and platinum.