Appliance recycling consists of dismantling waste home appliances and scrapping their parts for reuse. Recycling appliances for their original or other purposes, involves disassembly, removal of hazardous components and destruction of the end-of-life equipment to recover materials, generally by shredding, sorting and grading. The rate at which appliances are discarded has increased with advancement. This correlation leads directly to the question of appropriate disposal. The main types of appliances are refrigerated, air conditioners, washing machines, and computers. When appliances are recycled, they can be looked upon as valuable resources. If disposed of improperly, appliances can become environmentally harmful and poison ecosystems. The strength of appliance recycling legislation varies around the world. For example recycling one refrigerator can save 10 lb. of foam insulation, and 300000 BTU of energy.

A key part of the appliance is the manual dismantling of each product. The disassembly removes hazardous components, while sorting out reusable parts. Procedures vary from one appliance to the other. The amount of hazardous components can be removed also depends on the type of appliance. Low removal rates of hazardous components. Each type of appliance has its own set of features and components. This makes characterization of appliances essential to sorting and separating parts. Research on an appliance dismantling has become an active area.

There is a certain process used to recover materials from appliances. Parts are generally removed from order of largest to smallest. Metals are extracted first and then plastics. Materials are sorted by size, shape, or density. Sizing is a good way of sorting to quicken future processing. It also classifies fractions that show composition. Materials report to larger or smaller fractions based on original dimension, toughness, or brittleness. Shape classification contributes to the dynamics of the material. Classification by density is important when it comes to determining the use of a material.

Batteries and copper are out for first control. The materials are then compacted. Next, iron and steel (ferrous metals) are extracted using electromagnets. They are collected and made ready for sale. Then are separated from non-metals using eddy currents. Eddy currents are created by rapidly changing magnetic fields, which induce metals to jump away from non-metals. Then water separation is used by plastics and glass from circuit boards and copper wires. Circuit boards and copper content is then sold. Plastics and glass are further compacted for reuse.

Although appliance recycling is still quite new, countries have been making the effort to enact laws and regulations regarding the electric waste. Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Germany.

In 2003 Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) passed into European Law. It sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for all types of electrical goods.

By the 1950s and 60s Japan had already become a major producer of electric appliances. The first initiatives to recycle were launched in the 70s. Due to costs, disassembly was hardly achievable. The Home Appliance Recycling Law was enacted in 1998 and came into force in 2001, and the recycling of waste electrics became a specific requirement under the Household Appliance Recycling Law and the Law for Effective Utilization Resources. Appliance manufacturers are now required to finance the recycling of their products. The Association for Electric Home Appliances is a trade group that is responsible for orphaned products.

China produces a significant share of the world’s appliances. This country also has a high influx of appliance waste. There has been much progress in appliance recycling efficiency. China’s undeveloped dismantling and processing has led to elevated levels of toxins in the waste appliance site vicinities. Their appliance recycling methods require severe improvement.

The United States is the largest waste appliance producer in the world, but there is still no need for federal law. We have a state level, many mandatory electronic recovery programs have been implemented. There are also several commercial appliance recyclers, for example, Appliance Recycling Centers of America (ARCA). ARCA is a company based in Minneapolis, with a chain of national recycling depots.

In 2003, the California Electronic Waste Recycling Act was signed. It is a new program for consumers to return, recycle, and ensure the safe and environmentally sound disposal of video discs, such as televisions and computer monitors, which are hazardous wastes when discarded. In 2005, consumers paid a fee of 6-10 dollars when buying an electronic device. These fees are used to pay e-waste collectors and recyclers to cover their cost of managing e-waste. The EWRA classifies electronic devices and covered electronic devices. Only covered electronic devices (CEDs) are included in the EWRA, but all electronic devices are needed. The CEDs include televisions and computers that have LCD displays or contain cathode ray tubes.

Australia has the same approach at the US at this time. There are several commercial appliances in Australia, as well as some organizations that offer the best of the world. Some retailers like Appliances Online also remove and recycle customers’ old appliances using services like Sims Metal Management.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is an environmental protection strategy that makes the manufacturer of the appliance responsible for its entire life cycle and especially for the “take-back”, recycling and final disposal of the product. Essentially, manufacturers must now finance product treatment and recycling. Countries where this strategy has been adopted for: Switzerland (1998), Denmark (1999), Netherlands (1999), Norway (1999), Belgium (2001), Japan (2001), Sweden (2001) and Germany (2005) ), but it has been expanded through legislation among certain South American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Countries in which EPR has long been established, the product of the combination of government legislation and sound company can produce a higher take-back and recycling rate. An example of this is the Sony Corporation in Japan, achieving a 53% recycling rate. Other ways countries approach the issue of waste is by import or import. Almost all countries, at least Many implement extended producer responsibility, in addition to recycling facilities.