Europe recycles TV, PC screens into building materials



Europe recycles TV, PC screens into building materials

Anne-Francoise Pele
(11/15/2007 12:18 PM EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.eu/uk/203100827

Because electronic waste is set to increase from 10.3 million to 12.3 million tones per year from 2005 to 2020 within the European Union, according to an United Nations University study, the two-year European Eco Tv project has developed an innovative way of recycling the most polluting components found in television and computer screens.

PARIS – Because electronic waste is set to increase from 10.3 million to 12.3 million tones per year from 2005 to 2020 within the European Union, according to an United Nations University study, the two-year European Eco Tv project has developed an innovative way of recycling the most polluting components found in television and computer screens. The Eco Tv project, led by the Provincial Council of Valencia (Spain) in collaboration with the Valencian Construction Technology Institute (AIDICO) and E-misszió Environmental Association (Hungary), aims at recycling polluting electronic waste materials such as lead, barium and strontium. It would give them a new lease of life and help prevent the spread of landfills, reported the Community Research & Development Information Service (CORDIS). The project leaders said they have found a way of turning the polluting components into such materials as ceramic floor tiles and resin, which could be applied to cement as an insulating component and a construction material. Eco Tv is a subproject of the Regional Framework Operation (RFO) Perspective 2007-2013 and is co-financed by the European Union through the interregional cooperation programme Interreg IIIC South. Through this project, partners intend to define a strategy that can plan the joint use of Structural Funds in four regions of the European Union: Saxony-Anhalt (Germany), Central Region (France), Northern Great Plain (Hungary) and Valencian Region (Spain).