WASTE ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC

SEPARATION PLANT IN LA PAZ, BOLIVIA

PROJECT THESIS

DEPARTMENT FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

2015

BY

GEIR BENDIK STORESUND

EIRIK LERUM VIGERUST

i

1 Preface

This paper is written as the project thesis in mechanical engineering at the Norwegian

University for Science and Technology, written December 2015. It is a preliminary work

towards a master thesis that will be written from January to June 2016. The purpose of

this report is mainly to present theory and results gained throughout half a year of

preparations towards the master thesis.

Much of the literature used early in the process was taken from books and

publications. This theory has been very important to understand the theory, but as you

will see in this report, theory and practice does not necessarily go hand in hand everywhere

in the world. The thesis find place in Bolivia. By going to the 3500 meter high city of La

Paz, we have been lucky to observe how the theory fits with reality. Another set of game

rules apply. But does some of the same approaches work? Through a three week visit in

the country on the other side of equator, we are very grateful for all the people and places

that has taken us in and shown us the way towards a piece of their country’s exciting

future.

There is a long list of people we can thank for where we have gotten so far. First

and foremost we want to thank our supervisor at NTNU, Knut Aasland, for trusting in

our project, and for help with the organization. Swisscontact in Bolivia has done a great

job, and the project would not have existed without them. They helped us to find the

topic, and then provided us with all the contacts we needed, helped us plan our stay in

Bolivia and have been following us and giving advices through all the semester. Especially

we want to thank Martin Dietschi and Ximena Ayo for this. The owner and runner of

RAAE Recicla, Jonathan Butrón, and all his workers deserve a big thanks for all the

information and time they have given, and the productive idea development processes we

had together. From the municipality in La Paz we have gotten a lot of good information,

and they have helped with the organization and planning of the project. There is a lot of

people we can thank in the municipality, but especially we want to thank Amanda Villca

and Alfredo Clavo for their close following.

Engineers Without Borders Norway (IUG Norge) made it possible to travel to

Bolivia by supporting the travel costs, and have been of great help with information about

how to get as much as possible out of the field works. They have helped us in extensive

debriefing and reflection after the field trip, as well as pointing out important points to

focus on in the report.

In the preoperational part of this report, professor David Sanders, and the other teachers

in the class “Theory and Methods”, and Dr. Syed Mansoor Ali have been of great help

with valuable information about preparations and considerations around work in

developing countries. We will also like to thank Petter Hørthe, Martin Furevik and the

rest of the office for moral support and good discussions in tough times and hard decisions.

ii

GBS&ELV

2 Abstract

This thesis is a research paper on how treatment on waste electronic and electrical

equipment (WEEE) can be done in the city of La Paz, Bolivia. EEE consumption and

WEEE generation has increased the last years and the need to treat electrical products

after its lifetime is ended, has presenting it self. The municipal waste system of La Paz

has started treating different waste types, but the waste type WEEE is until now outside

of this system. Different ways of treating the WEEE are possible. However the

municipality of La Paz need to keep costs down and the solution must reflect the budget

limits. A field trip to Bolivia was performed to investigate existing municipal system, and

a private company called RAEE Recicla that recycles WEEE generated from different

businesses. At the RAEE Recicla; the layout, dismantling process, EE-articles and

business model was investigated. Questioning, brainstorming and idea making was done

with the workers in order to gather data and create solutions to improve the dismantling

stations. The data we collected from the field trip was used to develop concept layouts

and present a final improved layout for the RAEE Recicla. With the research, data and

experience from this thesis, a plan for further work of a master thesis suggested. The

master thesis will further develop the dismantling station and analyze productivity and

layout for a municipal WEEE separation plant.

iii

1 Content

1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Overview ............................................................................................................ 1

1.2 The whole project – Master thesis ...................................................................... 1

1.3 Semester report – Project thesis ......................................................................... 2

2 Theory ...................................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 3

2.2 WEEE and recycling in development countries and as a global issue ................ 3

2.3 Bolivia ................................................................................................................ 5

2.4 Current waste handling systems in La Paz ........................................................ 6

2.5 WEEE in Bolivia and predicted development in La Paz ...................................12

2.6 Materials in WEEE recycling ............................................................................15

2.7 Separation methods ...........................................................................................17

2.8 Automated separation .......................................................................................18

2.9 Our participation in the project ........................................................................19

3 Method .....................................................................................................................22

3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................22

3.2 Preparatory studies ...........................................................................................22

3.3 Fieldwork ..........................................................................................................23

3.4 Concept generation ............................................................................................23

4 RAEE Recicla ..........................................................................................................26

4.1 Business model of RAEE Recicla ......................................................................26

4.2 Facility layout and processing ...........................................................................28

4.3 Manual dismantling stations .............................................................................32

4.4 Field research ....................................................................................................35

4.5 Experiences from WEEE dismantling at RAEE Recicla ...................................35

4.6 Conclusion from dismantling .............................................................................37

4.7 Observation and analysis of current work station .............................................38

4.8 Brainstorming work station with workers and concept development .................41

5 Concept development of layout for RAEE Recicla...................................................46

Production management: ............................................................................................46

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5.1 Processes and material flow: ..............................................................................47

5.2 Concept development of entry storage ..............................................................48

5.3 Evaluation of concepts ......................................................................................50

5.4 Choice of concept for entry storage ...................................................................50

6 Summary and Conclusion ........................................................................................53

6.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................53

6.2 Summary ...........................................................................................................53

6.3 Field Work ........................................................................................................54

6.4 Working Station ................................................................................................54

6.5 Layout of RAEE Recicla ...................................................................................55

6.6 Conclusion .........................................................................................................55

7 Chapter 7 – Further work ........................................................................................56

7.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................56

7.2 Working Station ................................................................................................56

7.3 Refrigerators ......................................................................................................57

7.4 Plant Layout .....................................................................................................57

7.5 Field work .........................................................................................................58

7.6 After the thesis ..................................................................................................58

8 List of figures ...........................................................................................................60

9 List of tables ............................................................................................................60

10 List of pictures ......................................................................................................60

11 List of appendices .................................................................................................61

12 Sources ..................................................................................................................62

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Introduction

1.1 Overview

Bolivia is going through a rapid development these days. With the fastest growing

economy in South America, consumption is rising quickly. And with consumption follows

the waste generation. The Bolivian government is realizing the need to handle the waste

properly and have started to invest in waste systems. A lot of focus is put on the

management of solid waste, and much resources are used to ensure that the waste is

treated appropriately for the improvement of living conditions and environmental aspects.

The municipality of La Paz decided in 2015 to build a large facility for treatment of the

most important types of waste. A part of this facility will take care of waste electrical and

electronic equipment (WEEE).

1.2 The whole project – Master thesis

A few years ago a dismantling plant was started in La Paz by Jonathan Butrón. Today

he is leading the small family business, RAEE Recicla (Spanish; translates to WEEE

recycling). Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) is gathered from companies and

offices for proper dismantling. After the dismantling, the separated materials are sold to

other facilities for further treatment. In the planned municipal facility, they want a section

that is able to handle WEEE from more sources, to ensure recycling of as much of the

WEEE as possible. The municipality and Butrón has agreed to cooperate on the project,

to include the experience from the established company, and the funding and momentous

of the municipality.

The Swiss non-governmental organization (NGO), Swisscontact, is also involved in the

project. They have been working with economic development, vocational training, tourism

and environmental projects in Bolivia since 1988. They are working on a big waste

management project called Ecovecindarios, where they are in close contact with the

municipality and with private companies within different sectors of solid waste

management (SWM). Their role in the planning of the municipal recycling facility is

mostly as a consulting actor.

These master thesis are written on request from Swisscontact, and is written in

collaboration with them. The purpose of the thesis is to design a proposition for a layout

of the WEEE recycling plant included in the municipal facility, with a focus on an

optimization of the workflow within the project boundaries. The working place shall be

suitable for people with different kinds of disabilities, and this will be taken into account

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in the design. Included in the project we will develop the manual labor separation tables

for improved efficiency and ergonomics.

The purpose of the master thesis is to be used as information for a proposition for the

municipality to apply for funding to build and start the plant.

1.3 Semester report – Project thesis

This report will present the result of our work until December 2015. Its main purpose is

to serve as preliminary work for the master thesis, and to present a half-way report. A

big part of the report is about necessary research on solid waste management, WEEE,

information about the Bolivian situation and research on how to work in Bolivia. Results

from field work in Bolivia will be presented. A proposition for an improved layout for the

already existing WEEE separation plant, RAEE Recicla, and a preliminary suggestion for

improved working station are also included.

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2 Theory

2.1 Introduction

This chapter is meant as a preparatory study to understand the WEEE issue in Bolivia

and for possible treatment solutions for the WEEE. This is based on the data we gathered

before and during the field trip.

2.2 WEEE and recycling in development countries and as a global

issue

The last 25 years we have seen a rapid development in electrical and electronic equipment

(EEE). Worldwide PC’s, cellphones, tablets, game consoles and TV’s have increased

massively in the market. In western countries this has early presented itself as a problem

in terms of End of Life (EoL) for a product, and how to handle it after it has been

disposed. This has led to big investments of facilities and systems to handle waste

electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE). In Europe advanced automatic separation

facilities have emerged to recycle the materials from WEEE.

The increased globalization and improvement of national economies has led to increased

ability to buy EEE in developing countries. An example is that several countries in Latin

America have seen dramatic increases in EEE sales. Appropriate systems and facilities to

handle the WEEE are few or more often, completely absent. Waste management in

development countries are often also simple in terms of treatment of other types of waste.

Lack of governmental funding and understanding of benefit of proper waste handling

result in that many rely on landfilling as the major treatment for waste. Landfilling

electronic waste can have huge environmental impacts in terms of leakage of acids, heavy

metals and other chemicals into surface and ground water along with potential toxic

emissions.

2.2.1 Definitions

WEEE is generally defined as any disposed or intended to be disposed electric or electrical

equipment. (OECD, 2011). The European Union WEEE directive has defined EEE as any

equipment dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work

properly (Schafer et al., 2003). The EU has further categorized WEEE into 10 different

categories.

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Number: WEEE category

1. Large household appliances

2. Small household appliances

3. IT and telecommunications equipment

4. Consumer equipment

5. Lighting equipment

6. Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large-scale stationary

industrial tools)

7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment

8. Medical devices (with the exception of all implanted and infected products

9. Monitoring and control instruments

10. Automatic dispensers

Table 1 EU defined WEEE categories

Source: The EU WEEE directive

2.2.2 Waste hierarchy

The waste hierarchy shows how treatment of waste should be considered to reach the

most cost-effective system. Prevention and reuse are highly regarded as there is little loss

in energy. Recycling is next step which demands more energy but does not cause any loss

of material. Recovery is not preferred but at least harvest energy at the cost of material

loss. An example of waste recovery is an incineration plant that burns household residues

and collect the heat generated by means of electricity or heating. Disposal on landfill lead

to both loss of material and energy. Additionally leachates and releases of gases from

landfill cause contamination of local and global environment.

Figure 1 The waste hierarchy

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2.3 Bolivia

2.3.1 Demographics

Bolivia’s official name is the Plurinational State of Bolivia, and it is located close to the

center of South America. It has a population just above 11 million people, where almost

64% lives in urban areas. Sucre is the official capital of the country. The government is

seated in La Paz, and is often talked about as the capital. La Paz is ranked as the third

most populated city, with a population of 757 184 (2012). Geographically La Paz, and El

Alto (the second biggest city) are connected, but politically they are two different

departments. Bolivia has the largest portion of indigenous people in South America, with

62% indigenous (UNDP, 2006). (1)

2.3.2 People and culture

The Bolivian culture is strongly influenced by the indigenous traditions and ways of living.

For a long time they have been oppressed, and about two thirds of the indigenous are

among the poorest 50% of the population (2004) (2). In 2005 President Evo Morales was

elected to presidency as the first indigenous president in Bolivia. He is now in his third

presidential term. His politics are focused on keeping the indigenous traditions and culture

intact. This work both in the way that the overall culture are more influenced by the

indigenous, as well the indigenous are more included in the rest of the system, influencing

their culture to be more like the culture of the rest of the people.

2.3.3 Economy and development

Bolivia is by many means of measures the poorest country in South America. It has also

been the country with the most rapid economic growth in South America the last years.

A natural consequence of increased wealth is a higher use of resources, which if not

handled carefully can mean exploiting health and environment. An increasing GDP

usually lead to increased waste generation. WEEE is one of the waste types expected to

increase the most the next years. It is therefore essential to establish a god handling

system before the problem grows too big. WEEE contain much hazardous materials that,

if not handled properly, can be bad for the environment and the people living around.

2.3.4 Governance and corruption

According to the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), Bolivia is

scoring weaker than regional and global averages in most governance areas. Political

corruption is looked upon as a big problem in Bolivia. The last years with the Morales

administration leading the country, much effort has been put into anti-corruption work,

and new laws have been added to stop the problem. The last years many people have

taken the consequences of being corrupt, losing their jobs or going to jail.

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For companies corruption has been stated to be one of the primary obstacles for doing

business in Bolivia. In a survey done by the World Bank and IFC Enterprise Surveys in

2010, about one fifth of companies said they expected to pay or give gifts to “get things

done”. This problem seem to have decreased the last years. (3)

2.3.5 Informal sector in Bolivia

The informal sector can be described as “the activities that are not registered, recorded,

protected or regulated by public authorities” (ILO, 1972). In Bolivia nearly 80% of urban

and rural employment is informal, making it the South American country with the largest

informal sector. Such a large amount of informality is a sign of a big separation between

the government and the people, and a sign of little trust in the authorities. This is

important to have in mind when working with authorities and the formal sector in Bolivia.

Changes are being done to decrease the informal sector, and to improve the trust in the

system. The changes seem to have a positive effect, and the last years it seems like more

people see the benefit of being formal. (4).

2.4 Current waste handling systems in La Paz

2.4.1 Waste economics and regulation

In October 2015 the first national law for solid waste management was adopted in Bolivia.

Until then there were no regulations giving responsibility, taxes, specifying conditions or

giving technical guidance. It was up to each municipality to choose how much money to

spend on handling the waste, and how they wanted to do it. Throughout the country

there have been big differences in where the solid waste end up, and what impact it has

on the environment. The new law distributes responsibilities, and requires that the waste

is handled in an appropriate way following national guidelines and requirements. The law

does still not cover regulations for waste electrical and electronic equipment.

As of now La Paz is one of the municipalities in Bolivia with the most developed plan for

how to handle waste. They have an own department in the municipality for waste

management, and have systems for cleaning the streets, collecting household waste and

disposing the waste in a controlled landfill outside of the city. Lately they have started

looking more into the possibilities of recycling, and are planning to make a large scale

recycling facility. In many of the schools, recycling has also become a part of the education.

Information and awareness is also an important subject the municipality is working on.

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2.4.2 Collection system in La Paz

The collection system in La Paz is mostly based on curbside collection. Garbage trucks

are of similar configuration as in most European countries (one compartment with

compactor). The trucks drive around the city in routes and ring a bell to signal people to

put the waste at the curb. However La Paz has a very challenging geography. It has the

shape of a bowl with steep hills all around the city center. In the areas that would be hard

for a heavy truck to perform curbside collection, there are public collection points which

are regularly emptied. The frequency of the collection vary. In the city center trucks might

have collection as often as two times a day on the same location. Less frequent in the

outer regions. The household collection is for all household waste, without any source

segregation or separation into waste type. The collection routes are often hindered by the

notorious traffic in La Paz. Traffic flow is often very slow which makes the collecting

during day difficult.

With this collection system, the landfill estimates that more than 90% of the household

waste is collected and ends up in a proper landfill. Some is also dumped into nearby rivers

and unregistered landfills, but this is unconfirmed data.

There is now also an option for households to separate their paper and plastics in public

collection points set up around the city every Sunday. 23 Green Point stations (Puntos

Verdes) are set up around the city to gather recyclables. Every station has staff to do

some extra sorting of the waste and prepare it for further actions. As of now, people can

deliver bags of paper and plastics that they sort out at home. In the future the plan is to

expand the possibilities and accept other kinds of waste types as well, such as glass and

WEEE/RAEEs (Residuos de aparatos eléctricos y electrónicos). Options around how this

can be done will be discussed in the RAEE Recicla planned business model. The Green-

Point-station project is still under development, but has so far turned out as a success,

with a growing number of users. Resources are used on awareness campaigns, and the

numbers are expected to keep growing. Source separation is also implemented in public

places such as parks. Here there are four different bins in different colors. They accept

paper, plastic, pathogenic waste and glass.

Recently there have been incentives to include recycling in the primary school education.

The students learn to separate plastics and papers from other waste, and the purpose is

for them to spread the knowledge to their home and families.

Some private actors have set up small shops around the city, where they buy some types

of waste from people, to resell it to larger facilities. They have different ways of running,

but usually buy materials like glass, metals, cardboard, plastic bottles etc. Many of these

shops are run as informal businesses (unregistered), and it is not known how big this

practice is.

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2.4.3 Landfill (Relleno Sanitario)

The landfill, Relleno Sanitario Nuevo Jardin Alpacoma, is owned and run by the

municipality. It is placed in the outskirt of La Paz. It is a high capacity landfill, with an

initial estimated lifetime until at least 2026. Between 2004 and 2015, the landfill has

received about 1.900.000 tons of solid waste. Every day around 100 trucks come in with

waste weighing about 540 tons (wet weight). The daily amount of incoming waste is

increasing rapidly. The increase has been faster than what was projected. To keep the

lifespan of the landfill as planned, they want to reduce the amount of waste coming in.

This is an important reason for why the municipality want to start a larger recycling

facility.

Picture 1 The landfill of La Paz: Relleno Sanitario

The landfill is built with a stair construction, where waste is dumped into the lowest step

first, and then filling up higher steps when one is full. After filling a part, it is covered

with mold/sand. Gases made by compost processes under ground are lead through pipes

to the surface, where it is burned to reduce the environmental impact. Waste water is the

biggest problem in the landfill, and large resources are used for treatment. The waste

water is lead through channels from where the waste is stored to a system of pools in the

bottom of the location. Here it goes through different processes for taking the toxicants

away, and they end up with water that can be used for vegetation or released to nature.

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Picture 2 Us with the chief chemical engineer and administrative consultant at the Relleno Sanitario

2.4.4 Classification Plant (Planta de Clasificación de Residuos Sólidos

Reciclables)

In 2014 a new plant for separating recyclable materials was started next to the landfill.

The waste collected in the green points, from schools, and other instances are delivered

here. Different waste types are separated, compressed into cubes. Except for the

polyethylene and polypropylene the other fractions such as: plastic bottles, cardboard,

paper, aluminum and steel is sold abroad. Businesses in Peru are the main buyers. Peru

has developed industry that can make use of these recyclables. The polyethylene is sold

to the Plastimadera facility in La Paz.

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Picture 3 Separation plant at Alpacoma outside of La Paz. Workers separate the fractions manually

2.4.5 Plastimadera

As a part of a bigger plant owned by a municipal sector, Plastimadera is made to recycle

plastic waste. The sector is responsible for parks and green areas in the city. The plant

has workshops for a number of materials, where they make things such as aperture and

accessory for the parks. From plastics (mostly polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP))

they make large plates in a compactor. The material is shredded before compacted under

heat, and plates of different thickness and density are made. Some of the things they use

the plates for were fitness machines, roofs, trash bins and furniture.

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Picture 4 Shredded polyethylene in the form, waiting to be heated and pressed into plastic plate

2.4.6 Other Instances

In addition to the mentioned plants, there are some other alternatives for recycling in the

country. Some of them are registered formal businesses, and some informal. At this point

we do not have a full overview of what exist, but some will be mentioned. For electronics

recycling, RAEE Recicla, this is the biggest actor in La Paz. There are also another few

informal actors collecting electronics, dismantling and selling material.

Construction waste is a big problem in the city and along roads big piles can be seen.

Construction waste is mostly related to bricks, which is by far the main material used in

constructions. A private inventor has designed a press to make recycled bricks out of

different mixtures. The mixtures contain pulverized old bricks, plastic or Styrofoam mixed

with cement. His business is to sell the tools to construction companies which can save

money by reusing broken bricks.

Some metal is recycled in the same plant as Plastimadera, but a large scale metal recycling

is not found in La Paz. From the classification plant, most of the PET bottles end up in

Peru for recycling, but apparently a reutilization plant for bottles can be found in another

department of Bolivia. Proper treatment of some hazardous materials does not exist in

Latin America, and is therefore exported to other continents.

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2.4.7 Future plans in La Paz and current waste generation

To reduce the load on the landfill, to reduce the impact on the environment and to create

jobs, the municipality of La Paz want to build a larger scale recycling facility for the most

important types of waste. More than 60% of the collected waste in La Paz is organic

waste. Because of the high amounts of organic waste, a composting plant has high priority.

They are also looking into the possibilities of building a biogas plant. A good system for

sorting out and treating organic waste will reduce the load on the landfill a lot, and can

give good environmental benefits. In appendix 11.2, data on the composition of waste type

is given.

There are plans to build treatment plants for many of the most common types of waste,

but we will not go in detail on these in this report. The initial wish was to gather as many

recycling facilities as possible in one location, as a complete waste treatment plant.

Because of limited available space, this does not seem to be an alternative at the moment.

The different plants will therefore be spread around in the city.

2.5 WEEE in Bolivia and predicted development in La Paz

2.5.1 Tendencies and estimates of WEEE generation and new EEE relations

Proper information and research on WEEE quantities in Bolivia is limited. We have used

the data that we were able to find to analyze critically, and give a prediction of WEEE

generation in Bolivia. A rough estimate for generated WEEE in La Paz has also been

calculated. This is to try and get an idea of the magnitude and prediction pattern and

development of the WEEE generation.

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2.5.2 Comparing data on EEE and WEEE

Swisscontact and Delin Consultora have published a prediction of expected development

of WEEE in Bolivia along with expected increase of EEE put in the market.

Figure 2 Estimation of EEE and WEEE generation in Bolivia (5)

The report is from 2008 and development of WEEE and EEE until 2015 is based on

predictions. As shown in the graph there is a gap between EEE entering the market and

WEEE generated. This is because of the life time of the electronics. If there is a sudden

increase in EEE at the market, the responding increase in generated WEEE is not visible

until several years after, because of the lifetime of the products. The increasing gap

between generated EEE and WEEE is a result of no treatment method for the WEEE.

Big fridges or TVs are too bulky to be discarded as regular household waste. One would

therefore assume that the electronics are dealt with in other ways.

Disposal of electronic/electric articles has been researched in La Paz. The intension is to

get an idea of what happens when the user decide to discard an electronic article. As

shown in the graph below, a significant percentage of the electronics are kept as storage

in the households. Nearly nothing is recycled as result of lacking the option of handing it

to treatment. The statistic representing La Paz reflect that a considerable amount of EEE

is either repaired, stored or sold as second use.

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Figure 3 What is done with electronics in La Paz when they are discarded (5)

This means that the electronics are kept longer in use. When starting a system to accept

handing inn of WEEE for treatment, the amount of WEEE stored in households will be

expected to go down. As the economy of the citizens is expected to rise, less of the

electronics will be worth repairing because of growing cost. If we look at development of

generated EEE and collected WEEE in Europe (appendix 11.4), the gap between them,

is constant. The same development in Bolivia is not unrealistic to expect.

2.5.3 Estimate for WEEE generation in La Paz

In order to do any kind of estimation of WEEE generated in La Paz we needed newer

data than the 2008 report from Swisscontact and Delin Consultora. The United nations

university have done a more recent study of generation of WEEE in Bolivia. The study

shows amount of EEE put on the market (2012) and WEEE generated (2014). The results

are presented in table 2.

Year Total in kilo

tons

Kg/capita year

EEE put into

market

2012 82 7.6

WEEE

generated

2014 45 4.0

Table 2(6)WEEE and EEE generated in Bolivia

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Taking the previous data in consideration we have tried to make a very rough estimate

for La Paz’s generation of WEEE and how collection patterns can be expected to develop

after the municipal have established a public treatment option for the WEEE

La Paz has just under 800 000 citizens. With a generation of 4 kg/capita (Data from

Global E-waste monitor), this gives an estimated generation in La Paz of:

4.0 kg/capita * 800 000 capita = 3200 tons/year.

La Paz can be assumed to be on equal level of development with other major cities in the

country. An immediate source of uncertainty is that 64% of the population in Bolivia lives

in urban areas. The generation of WEEE is bigger in urban areas than in rural areas. The

number can therefore be expected to be higher than the estimated 3200 tons/year in La

Paz.

2.6 Materials in WEEE recycling

2.6.1 WEEE Components

Large-sized EEE, like washing mashines, refrigerators, and monitors, are considered the

main source for the base metals, like iron, aluminum, copper, lead and zinc. These usually

consist of bigger parts that easily can be separarted and reused or recycled. Smaller

devices, such as laptops, mobile phones and printed circuit boards (PCBs) are important

for precious metals, like silver, gold and palladium. These precious metals are often more

integrated in the parts, and harder to separate than the large pieces in the bigger

equipment, but at the same time they mostly give good value for the resources put into

it. For less common materials like Ba, Bi, Co, Ga, Sr and Ta, mid-sized equipment as

printers and fax machines are a good source. A lot of these metals are used in small

quantities in important technology. Many of them exist only in small quanteties on the

earth, or are mined in controversial areas. Therefore, recycling of these metals are very

important for the enviroment.

2.6.2 Metals in WEEE

Metals are the most attractive materials to separate out of the recycling process of

electronic waste. Ferrous metals are the most used metal in electronics, and it is also the

easiest to sort out. Often big steel pieces can be easily sorted out manually, and the

magnetic properties makes it easy to separate from the other materials. Aluminum, copper

and nickel are also relatively easy to separate, and are after iron the most used metals.

The most environmentally and economically favorable metals are the once with lower

concentration, like gold, silver and palladium, because these are much more rare and hard

to mine. They are also harder to separate from the other materials, and require more

advanced operations. In a developed country recycling plant, they manage to separate 12-

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25% of the total content of these metals. In a low cost plant this can be expected to be

considerably lower. (7)

2.6.3 Plastics in WEEE

Due to its good properties as a durable, light, low cost and easily formed material,

polymers, or plastics, are used a lot in EEE. In Europe (Norway and Switzerland) about

6%, or 3.150.000 tons, of the total plastic consumption is used in EEE. Often it is found

in bigger parts as casings and such, but also for structure and support for parts inside the

equipment. The most used plastics in EEE are Polypropylene (PP), High Impact

Polystyrene (HIPS), Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS) and Polyphenylene

Oxide/HIPS (PPO/HIPS). Also the use of mixtures with Polycarbonate (PC) and

PC/ABS has been growing lately. Often other materials are added to the polymers as

well, some categorized as hazardous materials, and then often as flame retardants.

Therefore it is important that plastics are handled with care by people with knowledge

on the topic. On much of the plastic pieces produced properly, an ISO recycling mark can

be found somewhere on the piece, telling what material it’s made from. To find other

materials a number of techniques are used in the industry. Much of it is highly automated,

with the use of infrared spectroscopy to decide on the material. (8)

In many cases, the plastics does not end up being a profitable part of the WEEE recycling.

A system with rules and regulations is therefore important to ensure proper handling.

There are three common ways to treat the polymer waste: energy recovery, mechanical

handling or chemical handling. Energy recovery means using the plastics for the purpose

of making heat, electricity, or steam to substitute fossil fuels. Energy recovery and burning

is not preferred without good filtering systems to take away harmful substances. In many

developing countries polymers are burned anyways, because it is a cheap way to get rid

of it and save place in landfills.

Mechanical handling is usually the preferred way of handling plastics. This includes

manual sorting and automatic sorting. After the separation, the plastics are washed, dried

and sent through an extrusion process, where it is compressed and melted together. Finally

the plastic is cut into pellets, which is the way it is usually sold on the market.

Chemical handling uses chemicals to break the plastics into basic structures (monomers).

The monomers are then used as raw material to make new polymers. (9).

2.6.4 Hazardous materials in WEEE

A good plan for hazardous waste is very important. In many places where they do low

cost EE-recycling, hazardous materials are not properly taken care of. Close to these

places, content of heavy metals and other unhealthy materials are found in the soil,

animals, food and drinking water, and consequences have already started to show among

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the people living there (like higher rate of stillbirth, lower birth weight, decreased height

of the children, skin damage, headaches and gastro-intestinal disorders among grown-ups).

Within the EU they have the directive RoSH (Restriction of Hazardous substances

directive) to restrict the use of hazardous materials in EEE manufacturing. The hazardous

materials covered by RoSH are lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and the

two flame retardants PBB and PBDE (10). Handling of the waste is also regulated in EU

and many countries.

In Europe, 48% of the hazardous waste is recovered. Other accepted ways of handling is

landfilling, incineration (thermal treatment) deep well injection and physiochemical

treatment. (9)

2.7 Separation methods

In this section we are have looked on how different methods of separation is set up and

function. The two main subjects are automated separation and manual separation of

WEEE.

2.7.1 Manual Separation

Manual separation in terms of dismantling WEEE, is a process relying on manual labor

from a human operator. Although tools can be mechanized, it requires a human

identification of components and materials.

Dismantling WEEE

Manual separation is about reversing the assembly process which the electronic article

was constructed. This include releasing the mechanisms which the components were

assembled with during production. That means you will have to unscrew, or unclip any

fixing mechanisms which connect the materials to each other. Each part is dismantled

step by step until all components are of one material.

During the last 30 years electronic components have developed from big clumpy

components to micro and even nano scale components. This presents restrictions to

manual separation because of the material fractions being too small to be separated by

humans.

Wang discuss this issue in his paper on WEEE separation in China. Here he discusses the

need of finding the appropriate depth of manual dismantling. As an example he brings up

a DVD player. The dismantling steps are shown in Figure 4 Depth of dismantling (11)

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Figure 4 Depth of dismantling (11)

The depth of the manual dismantling should be limited to the factors of physical

difficulties and time. Hazardous processes for the dismantler should also be factor to decide

the depth of the dismantling. As you move down in the dismantling tree the different

components separated present difficulties that may cause too much time consumption for

dismantling to be economical sustainable. (11) In case of a dismantling step causing

excessive difficult, time consumption or hazardous danger, shipping the component to

national or international treatment should then be considered.

2.8 Automated separation

Separating the different materials from each other, is a process that can be done

automatically with proper ways of identify and separate the different types of materials

in electronic products.

Automated separation systems for WEEE are broadly used in Europe and North-America.

Although they are mainly automated, they also rely on some degree of human interaction.

There are certain steps of the separation that needs human disassembly or separation.

This can for instance be in initial separation where hazardous components, such as

batteries are removed. After the initial separation the WEEE is shredded and sent through

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a series of automated separation processes that collects the different materials (appendix

11.3)

2.8.1 Comparing automatic and manual separation

The greatest difference from manual and automatic separation is that manual dissemble

the articles by human labor, while automated separation shreds the article and separate

materials by automated systems.

Separation systems in Europe which are highly automated can handle high quantities and

volumes quickly. Although at the cost of high energy consumption and inefficient

separation quality compared to manual separation. Amount of recycled material gathered

from the WEEE in an automated separation plant is around 70%. Trained labor in a

manual separation facility can lie around 84% of the material being recycled. Important

to remember both strategies has its limitations. Manual will be limited to time of

separation, difficulty and hazardous danger and size of material or component. Automatic

systems can handle smaller components effectively. However shredding needs to be

accurate. This is because of too big shredded particles, can result in encapsulation of

materials(12). Too fine particles can cause difficulties for following processes and cause

separation errors and clogging issues.

Both Gmünder and Wang concludes that in a manual separation, finding the appropriate

dismantling depth for the WEEE is important to obtain an efficient dismantling process.

In their case study for the handling of WEEE in China they conclude a cooperation of

automated and manual separation processes (12), (11).

2.9 Our participation in the project

When going into an unknown country to work on a project, the most important factors

for the outcome is not necessarily the project itself, but how it is implemented into society.

Many projects fail because they are done in a way that would work in their home country,

but doesn’t work in the country you try to implement it into. This shows that is important

to let the people with knowledge on the culture be strongly involved in the process. It is

important to know your own role in the context, and not try to change social and political

aspects. Some parts are better to leave to the other participants of the project.

As a person coming from a western culture, the strong culture make it

extra important to step carefully and prepare well before trying to change things

for the “better”. With a very different set of values and view on what is

good, what is commonly accepted as good in the western world may

not be right in countries like Bolivia.

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In this project there are two main participants: the municipality and RAEE Recicla. These

are two actors with a lot of knowledge about the local society, each with their own

expectations and interests in the new separation plant. Jonathan Butrón in RAEE Recicla

is sitting on much competence in WEEE recycling, and is a key person for the project to

be efficient and sustainable. As a private sector actor, it is important for him to make a

profitable business. The municipality’s interests in the plant is rather to make a large

scale sustainable treatment plant for environmental and social reasons, and to reduce the

load on the landfill. This saves them money and time before they have to open a new

landfill. A private and a public participant are involved. There are many examples of

successful private-public partnerships, and it is often essential for a good result of public

beneficial projects. The partnership can also be a source of trouble. Sometimes

contradicting expectations will appear, and they will have to compromise. It requires them

to systematically work together. Good cooperation and communication is essential.

External partners who can help with the partnership has had positive effects in other

cases. (13)

Swisscontact is another part in the project. The company has a lot of competence

organizing projects, and is well established in the Bolivian system. They have worked with

both private and public partners, and can be a positive effect in the partnership. They

also have some meanings about how to make the plant work, but have a more objective

view on the situation. Swisscontact role in the project is mostly as a consulting part and

communication hub.

Our role in the project should therefore be as “experts” on process and layout design; and

product development. That way we will let the people with better knowledge of the culture

and the systems take care of the big picture, while we provide them with the technical

part they want from us. It is still important to understand the systems as good as possible

to understand the choices that are taken, to be able to implement the thoughts in our

design.

Swisscontact should be our main point of contact. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly

it means that we will be seen as a part of a serious organization, which can make us more

influential. It can be easier to respect and accept the work we deliver if it comes through

a known organization. The thesis may be used in an official proposition for a realization

of the project, whereas it may be important that the information comes from a respected

source. More information and reflections around this can be found in appendix 11.7.

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Figure 5Stakeholders in the project

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3 Method

3.1 Introduction

A systematic process has been essential for the way towards the result in the thesis. The

goal of the master thesis is to set up a good layout of a separation plant. This could have

been done early in the process, but because of additional aspect, like knowledge on the

culture, politics and the systems in Bolivia, it is necessary to gather much information

before making the layout. To spend enough time to study the influencing factors has

therefore been a big focus. A good amount of the time in this first half of the project has

been spent on essential research on recycling systems, and a similarly big part of the time

has been spent on research around considerations for work in different countries and about

Bolivia. Field work in Bolivia after doing this research helped to get an overview of the

project, and gave a sufficient understanding to be able to discuss the project boundaries.

The idea process did not start until the end of the field trip and after, when all the

necessary information was obtained.

3.2 Preparatory studies

In the first part of the project it was important to gather as much relevant information

about the situation as possible. There were two important aspects we had to research;

about WEEE recycling and about the country and culture we are working with. The

project boundaries was not clear in the beginning. To get an objective and unbiased

approach to the project, it was important to do basic research before getting too involved

with the people whom was already working with it. Much work was spent on research of

existing solutions for WEEE recycling in both developing and developed countries. A

similar amount of time was spent to gather information about how the systems work in

Bolivia; how people live and what the current waste management situation is in the

country. To understand how to approach the problem and to get a sustainable result, a

big part was spent looking at important factors and methods for work in developing

countries.

To gather the information a few methods were used. Books and some research papers were

used to gather general information. Research papers was used for specialization on some

topics. Most of the study of Bolivia was with the use of research papers and official

statistics. Through lectures in the subject Theory and Methods at NTNU, and through

conversations with the professors, knowledge was achieved about how to work in

developing countries. Much time was spent to get a good understanding of this. In

appendix 11.7 you can find research papers we have written about the topic.

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3.3 Fieldwork

An important topic in the beginning of the project was to decide what part of the learning

process it would be most beneficial to do a field trip, and how much time we would need

there. An early visit would give us much information early in the process. We would get

a good start, but much of the necessary research would have to be done in Norway after

the visit. A later visit implied a later specification and understanding of the project, but

gave the possibility to be more involved in the discussions. As “experts” on the topic it

was a very important to have sufficient knowledge when meeting the other people in the

project. Therefore we decided go two months into the semester. Because of this, we were

able to get much more out of the time in Bolivia by having a better understanding of

what we could accomplish when setting the project boundaries. With three weeks in

Bolivia we would have enough time to start to know the systems and to start generating

some ideas, and then keep working on this in Norway.

The main objective in the beginning of the field work was to meet the involved participant

in the project and to set the project boundaries and need finging. Swisscontact provided

a place to live, and set up meetings with the municipality, RAEE Recicla and important

people in other solid waste management sectors in Bolivia early in the stay. That way we

could spend most of the first week to get known to the people and the project; and the

systems around. Through discussions with the municipality, RAEE Recicla and

Swisscontact, we agreed on the scope of the project. We decided to make a complete

system; big enough to be realistically functional, but not bigger than giving us enough

time to do the necessary research and proper adjustments for optimizations.

Much of the last part of the stay was spent at RAEE Recicla to understand the processes,

and to find the needs of the existing plant. The time was also spent on concept generation.

This process will be explained in the next section. A detailed plan for the three week stay

can be found in appendix 11.5

3.4 Concept generation

3.4.1 Preparation

As we come in as outsiders to the project, with little understanding of the Bolivian culture

and the technical part of WEEE recycling, a good way to start was by joining and

observing how things are done in the existing plant. The workers in the plant have years

of experience with dismantling electrical and electronic equipment. Our job was therefore

to observe what works well, find needs and think of solutions to things that need

improvement. To understand the work, we spent one day as normal workers in the plant,

dismantling WEEE with the same equipment and situations they had. This way a good

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understanding and communication with the workers was established. It allowed us to

evaluate the current layout of the plant as well as the tools and working stations.

3.4.2 Plant layout

An important reason for making a suggestion for an improved layout of the existing plant

was to practice and gain valuable experience for planning of the larger plant. Most of the

processes in the final plant, will be the same as in RAEE Recicla, but in a smaller scale.

By making suggestions for the current plant of RAEE Recicla in this report, the changes

can be tested and evaluated for possible implementation in the large scale plant. At the

same time the changes can be beneficial for an improved material flow and efficiency in a

short term scope. By working on the plant and talking to the workers, a thoroughly

understanding of the process from delivery of components to the pickup of materials was

achieved. To make suggestions, an overview of the available space was important.

Measurements and pictures were taken, and all parts of the plant was properly observed.

Some testing of the available space was done by setting up alternative options for the

working tables. Most of the layout suggestions was done with the use of floor plans.

Further concept and solution development of layout was done back in Norway. The

method we used was the PUMA model. This includes: Finding the scope and demands of

the problem, presenting different solution concepts and do an analysis of which concept

serves the problem best.

3.4.3 Working station

The manual dismantling tables has a big impact on the work in the plant. The workers

are stationed by the table all day, and improvements here can have very positive

consequences in the working environment and efficiency. Active involvement of the

workers was an important part of the process, and much time was spent on finding

problems and discussing the current solution with them. By encouraging the workers to

do most of the suggesting and testing, many ideas were generated. A consequence was

also to make the workers feel more directly involved in the project, which will make it

easier to implement the systems later on. The process we used was a multi-day process,

illustrated in Figure 6 below. After brainstorming with the workers, the two of us

discussed different solutions, and made concept drawings. Later we went back for another

session with the workers; letting them evaluate and test the new ideas thoroughly. Simple

an rapid prototyping was done by the use of the current tables and simulation of new

movements and processes. This way we could see what needed improvement, and what

ideas to keep. Further evaluation of the results led to a preliminary concept. Further work

on the concept will be done in the beginning of 2016.

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Figure 6 Concept development process

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4 RAEE Recicla

As of now there is no good way for the people in La Paz to throw away electrical waste.

At a municipal level there exists no separate system for handling WEEE. Therefore small

electronics that are discarded from the community end up with mixed waste or accumulate

in homes. This has started to become a pressing issue. In the recent years, La Paz has

experienced an increasing consumption of electronics. This is because of an increase in

public wealth and increased accessibility for the consumers. Although there are no official

estimates of how much WEEE is created, there is an urgent need to discard all this EEE

in an appropriate manor.

Jonathan Butrón has for a couple of years been running a successful WEEE separation

company in La Paz. From the start it was a completely private initiative, where he

identified the potential of EEE when its lifetime expired. His business is named RAEE

Recicla and has its location in his private backyard in the south of the city.

4.1 Business model of RAEE Recicla

RAEE Recicla has specialized itself to handle WEEE mainly from companies. Dealers of

electronic brands such as Sony, Samsung and similar, contact him with a request to handle

broken, returned or outdated models of electronics. Other clients, such as office

departments, are also a part of the customer selection. A typical order request form a

client will usually be a list of electronics which the client want to be discarded in an

appropriate way. A typical order request can look like this:

Producer Type Quantity Weight

Samsung UE32J5100 32"

LED TV

5 120

Samsung UE32J5100 42"

LED TV

15 400

Samsung UE32J5100 28"

LED TV

8 130

Samsung PRINTER SL-

M2020W

12 100

Total

750

Table 3 Order Request from client

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The order is then accepted by RAEE Recicla, and the client batch is transported by the

client to the separation plant.

At the plant the equipment is received and stored in individual orders. Each order is

strictly separated, and the dismantling processes of the orders does not mix. The

components are then dismantled, and the different materials are separated in different

containers. Each fraction of material is weighed, documented and photographed. A

finished separation form can be as follows. (The numbers in the table are not actual

weights or prices.)

Material Weight [kg] Price [BOB]

Steel 25 + 300

Plastics 40 -400

Fluorescent tubes 3 -70

Aluminum 5 -60

Cable 12 -100

Copper 4 -70

Circuit board (Class A1) 4 -20

Circuit board (Class A) 7 -10

Circuit board (Class B) 0 0

Glass 0 0

Total 750 -500

Table 4 Invoice from RAEE Recicla to client

This form serves two purposes:

1. First RAEE Recicla adds up the expenses and income from the materials after

separation. This enables them to charge the client a fair price depending on the material

the components contain. For example if they receive a shipment of CRT monitors, which

contains few valuable materials. Most of the weight is the screen component, which has

an expensive separation process that needs to be done in Santa Cruz. This will therefore

lead to little income from the materials to RAEE Recicla and high cost of transportation

and further treatment. The client will therefor also have to pay a higher cost per kilo,

than other components with more profitable material.

2. The second purpose of the form, is to prove to the customer that the products are

properly taken care of. The photographs of the material fractions also help with this. It

proves a better case that RAEE Recicla handles the dangerous and polluting materials

and components. The other aspect is that RAEE Recicla shows that they do not resell

products that has a function. This process works as the documentation of the dismantling.

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The different materials are put in the material inventory until they reach a sufficient

quantity, and transportation cost is justified. Most of the material is shipped out of La

Paz. The metals are mostly sold to remolding in Bolivia or Peru. Plastics are sent to

Mexico for treatment, but the process here is unknown. Circuit boards to Belgium at

special separation plant for circuit boards. Here the circuit boards are chemically treated

and elements are extracted. Therefore the quantity of each material has to be compared

to the shipping cost per kilo and selling price per kilo. In the reselling of the materials

there are middle-men. As an example the metal is sold to a transport company in El Alto

(suburb of La Paz) which transports it to Peru. Peru has industry with smelters the can

melt and recycle the different metals. Because of the close location of the middle-man

buying steel, it is collected every second week.

The business model of RAEE Recicla mostly rely on WEEE from companies. For the

future it is desired to expand their business and also include WEEE from the Green points

(Puntos Verdes). This will then include a cooperation with the municipality and create a

connection to the public WEEE generation. As of now the Green points does not collect

electronics. In cooperation with Swisscontact, the idea is that the Green points will accept

electronics and transport it to RAEE Recicla for treatment.

4.2 Facility layout and processing

RAEE Recicla is initiated as a private company that handles WEEE in relatively small

scale. Therefore initial investments are small, and much of the production rely on manual

labor. The company moved to a new location during our fieldwork, and was therefore still

under construction and awaiting additional process equipment during our visits. At the

time of our visit the facility change from a simple backyard to a roofed dismantling floor

with work stations.

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Figure 7 Backyard facility at our arrival

Figure 8 Backyard facility after roof and workstations were set up

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Picture 5 The four workstations at the dismantling floor

Picture 6 Us with Jonathan and the rest of the workers at RAEE Recicla

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4.2.1 Processes and material flow

Entry inventory

All orders are shipped to RAEE Recicla by the customer. Upon arrival the truck is driven

into the compound and unloaded. The whole order is weighed before put in the entry

inventory. In the entry inventory all the different orders are stored separated from each

other. Within each order there is no systematic separation after type of EE-article.

Manual dismantling stations

At the manual dismantling tables, the EE-articles are dismantled and different materials

are divided into different piles. The manual stations perform the main processes of each

EE-article. Each station is similar in design and task range. This means that each of the

tables can dismantle all variations of EE articles from start to end. The manual

dismantling tables are the most important station in the material flow. How this station

performs has big impact on the production efficiency and quality.

Compressing and weighing

After dismantling each material fraction is weighed for estimating treatment price.

Plastics and steel parts, which normally come in large volumes, are compressed into cubes

of 1x1x0.5 m3 in the compressor. The compressor is fed with material which then is

compressed. Material will have to be fed load by load until you have a full size cube. The

process is therefore continuous over an extended period of time, rather than a short process

done once in a while.

Material inventory

Each material fraction is stored in the back of the facility until sufficient quantity is

obtained. The exception is steel cubes. These are stored next to the unloading area, for

easier access of the more frequent steel collection truck.

Figure 9

Material flow through the facility

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4.2.2 Layout

The layout of the facility has a functional setup, where each EE-article is moved to

different stations for different treatment. The machines and stations are able to treat all

varieties of EE articles. A setup like this is flexible and easy to fit to the big variety of

incoming products.

Figure 10

Layout of RAEE Recicla’s facility

4.3 Manual dismantling stations

The manual dismantling tables are fairly simple in design and function. Each table has

two persons working diagonally from each other.

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Picture 7 Working table setup

4.3.1 The working position

Working position can vary from standing to sitting, depending on what article is being

dismantled and what part of the dismantling is being done. Flat screen TVs are big and

heavy to move around on the table. A standing position while dismantling these are

preferred. Also when reaching for a screw that need firm force to be loosened a standing

position might be preferred.

4.3.2 Tools

The tools used for dismantling are mostly: power tool, Phillips and star screwdrivers and

different pliers for cutting and gripping. The less frequent tools are: knives, extra big/small

screwdrivers, torque screwdrivers and others. The tools are mostly kept on the table close

to the operator. The power drill is powered by a battery that on average lasts for half a

day.

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Picture 8 Most common tools used in dismantling

4.3.3 Separation of materials and components

While dismantling, each worker has improvised storage compartments. These are usually

empty cardboard boxes. One box for each material. The different components that come

from initial dismantling*, such as HDD (hard drive disk) or CD-drive from a desktop

computer, are stored on the table until second dismantling** is started. Small, complex

components, like encapsulated copper parts (example: dc/stepper motors) are usually

saved for later dismantling. Since the composition of WEEE is very varied, the material

compartments while dismantling a desktop computer is not the same as for a LCD monitor

or printer. The number of separation compartments will therefore vary from each article

type.

*Initial dismantling: first part of dismantling

**Second dismantling: second part of dismantling

4.3.4 Material types

After dismantling, the most common materials and components are:

Steel parts Small batteries

Plastic Magnets

Aluminum Fuses

Copper wire Fans

Copper pure Fluorescent light tubes

Circuit boards (class A1, A, B)* Glass

Hazardous parts (large batteries, printer

cartridge, laser device, etc.)

CRT screen element containing phosphor

and lead

Table 5 Materials in WEEE

*There are three qualities of circuit boards defined by material composition. A1 is the most valuable and B is the lest

valuable.

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As showed in the table, not all of the components are separated into pure material

fractions. Some are separated as a component and leaves the plant in this state. Example:

circuit board, CRT screen element, batteries and others. This is based on what level of

depth in dismantling* RAEE Recicla has decided on.

*Level of depth in dismantling is explained in chapter 1

Figure 11 CRT screen element Figure 12 Material and component fractions

4.4 Field research

In the research process we had three ways of collecting data of the dismantling processes:

1. We dismantled the most typical electronic articles.

2. We observed how the dismantling activities were done by the workers.

3. Brainstorming with workers and management to produce ideas for layout and

dismantling stations.

4.5 Experiences from WEEE dismantling at RAEE Recicla

During the dismantling we took three of the most common EE-articles apart. These were:

Computer desktop, CRT-monitor and printer. While we dismantled, one of the workers

explained the processes and gave advice. We were given the same tools they would

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normally use. However we dismantled in the way we saw it natural with aiding hints when

the components were complex. Unfortunately due to rain and roof being constructed, the

dismantling was not done on the normal dismantling tables. A temporary table was set

up inside where we performed the dismantling.

4.5.1 Desktop computer

Dismantling the computer was done in two stages

1. Initial separation

Computer tower is opened and the main components are released and put

aside. Cables are cut and removed, and plastic is separated from the steel

casing.

Main components are: Motherboard, additional circuit boards (e.g. Video

card, RAM etc.), HDD, CD-disk, power-supply.

2. Second separation

Dismantling of each of the components. Valuable components made of

aluminum and copper and cooling fans are separated from the circuit boards,

CD-disks and HDDs.

Initial dismantling is fast and easily done. Compared to time consumed, it is also a very

valuable process because of the amount of steel separated. The fixing mechanisms are easy

and logical to remove. Second separation is much more time demanding and require

precision and concentration because of small parts and mechanisms. By an experienced

worker, initial separation can be done in less than 6 minutes.

4.5.2 CRT-monitor

Separation of casing and removing of cables are quickly done. Removing the focus* on the

screen element is a separation that require carefulness. The challenge is to remove the

focus without breaking the light tube that is attached to it. Breaking the glass will cause

gases from the screen element to escape which produce a health risk. Screen element is

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not dismantled further than what picture 7 illustrates. The focus contain a lot easy

reachable copper.

*Picture 9 Focus indicated by the red circle

4.5.3 Printer

The printer was a very compact and neatly assembled piece of equipment. Many different

fixing mechanisms and a lot of material in the same color. This made it hard telling screws

and different parts apart. Dismantling the printer can be described as pealing an onion.

You go through layers of plastic to find small mechanisms and ink containers inside.

Printers are time-consuming to dismantle, and high fraction of its material is plastics. Big

parts of the printer, such as ink-cartridge, are treated as hazardous waste.

4.6 Conclusion from dismantling

After the dismantling there were some common points we identified:

4.6.1 Fixing mechanisms and tools used

The immediate realization when starting to dismantle was that it was usually easier to

loosen the mechanisms holding the components together, rather than separating them by

shear force. Therefore understanding the fixing mechanisms that are used is important.

The two most common types of fixing mechanisms were:

Fixed by simple screw

Fixed by clip

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In most cases the flat screwdriver was sufficient to unclip a part. Medium size star-

screwdriver/drill was sufficient for loosening most of the screws. Clipper was frequently

used to cut firmly connected cables. Screws that was too tight or unreachable for the

power tool was loosened by screwdriver

4.6.2 The most frequent tools we used were:

Power drill (one size star bit mostly)

Big flat screw driver (for unclipping clips)

Medium size screwdriver

Additional sizes of screwdrivers, pliers and knife was used occasionally.

4.6.3 Working position

The working position was from our experience shifting. Depending on if the article was

small and light or big/bulky and heavy, the need to stand or sit were both present.

4.6.4 Distinguishing between different parts/materials

Distinguish between the materials and parts was for the most part manageable. A magnet

at the table is nice to have to distinguish aluminum from steel. The different types of

circuit boards (A1, A and B) could sometimes be a challenge, and require some experience.

Another challenge was the sheer amount of parts, and the table quickly filling up.

4.6.5 Other pain points

Screws were produced in big numbers and picking them up one by one was time

demanding. Also while dismantling, occasionally small parts could spring jump, and fly

several meters.

4.7 Observation and analysis of current work station

4.7.1 Finding the needs

By observation and interaction with the workers while they were working, we were able

to get a better understanding of the issues and necessities in the current working station.

4.7.2 Observations:

Table space: The workers say the table fills up and get messy after some components, but

they prefer to be efficient during the dismantling, and then clean up after.

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The materials are floating together and take away our working space. But we don’t

have anywhere to put it, and we can’t waste our time moving it to the inventory

all the time.

The observations we did confirmed what they said. Typically they would separate the

materials from each other on the table in the beginning of the dismantling, but after a

while the piles would grow together, and it would have to be separated one more time

before the inventory. Large pieces were thrown on the floor on the side. The materials on

the table became a problem because of the space it occupied. After many components, it

seemed hard to maneuver the components for good working positions, and it took more

time to find the parts with need for further separation.

Cleaning: The cleaning of the tables was done by placing the material in cardboard boxes

after the dismantling. The boxes were placed close to the working table. When a box is

full, the material is taken to the inventory.

Communication: On each table there are two people working diagonally of each other.

This gives less space around the table, but makes it possible to use the space besides you

when needed (e.g. large components). It is easy for the two workers to communicate. This

is good when encountering problems, and keeps the moral up.

Ergonomics:

Working position: The workers say they often work standing, especially for the initial

dismantling of large parts. This is more efficient. The observations we did showed that

they were seated most of the time, also for much of the large pieces. Further observations

should be done before concluding with this. The height of the table allows easy

maneuvering of the components, and a good height for using the power drill and

screwdrivers in a standing position.

Towards the end of the day, the workers said they got tired in the back. Usually they

would not get too tired in other places.

The handling of large and heavy parts while in a sitting position may contribute to this.

An incentive to stand more could have a positive effect on this.

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Figure 13 Working position

Seats: The workers sit on different objects, such as boxes or shelves while working. This

allows adjusting the height by the choice of seating, but does not offer a comfortable

solution. It did not seem to give an easy transition from a sitting to standing position.

The height of the seating we observed gave a good height for working with smaller parts.

For work with the power drill it would be better to be positioned higher.

Preferred space: The space right in front of and close to the chest of the worker is the

most accessible, and most of the work is preferred to be done here. The area within a

radius of approximately 50 cm from the center of the workers body can easily be accessed

without too much leaning or big body movements. The area is used much for work with

larger parts and storage of tools and different parts.

The outside of the 50 cm radius requires larger movements to reach, but most of it is still

fairly easily accessible. It is much used for storage of materials. The space on the far side

in front of the worker is harder to access than the part on the side of the worker. It can

therefore be more beneficial to use some of the space on the side (that “belong” to the

other person), rather than the far end of the table (level 3 access area in Figure 14 below).

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Figure 14 Ergonomics of reach on working table

Foot position: The height of the seat makes it necessary to be able to lean the feet on

something. The shelf underneath is used today. The legs take up some room, and makes

it hard to store things in about a 30 cm radius area around the feet.

4.8 Brainstorming work station with workers and concept

development

After getting some hands-on experience and observing how the workers did their work,

we asked around and gave a few suggestions of what could be different or added to the

work stations. The workers and Jonathan showed interest in this, and proved to have

many thoughts on the subject. This resulted in ideas for a lot of solutions that could both

serve the workers interest and make the manual dismantling stations more efficient.

4.8.1 The problem

The main problem seemed to be that the table gets messy, decreasing the efficiency and

making it harder to work with the components. Also the workers get tired in the back

towards the end of the day, implying a bad working position.

In this report a complete solution for the working table will not be given. A preliminary

solution to the problem with messy tables will be proposed, but the details will be

investigated later in the project. Solutions to the working position will also wait until

beginning of 2016.

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4.8.2 Solving the problem

Presented in the table underneath are a few options to help with the problem of

accumulating materials in the working space.

Possible actions Description

More space Larger table size

- More storage and working space

- New space less available (further away)

- Takes up more space in locals Extra person for cleaning Keep materials on table, and have someone to remove

separated materials

- Let dismantlers work undisturbed

- Need extra person

- Hard to access

- Takes time to separate 2nd time Continuous removal of

materials

Separate materials to containers while working

- Gets the materials away immediately – no mess on the table

- Only one separation

- Requires more work to separate all the time

- Need storage for all materials – large variety I n components makes this hard

Storage of tool Keep the tools organized outside of the working space

- Moves the tools out of the way

- Easy access to all tools with a good system

- Requires easy access storage space out of the

working space

Table 6 Actions for improved working station

With eight people working at the plant, larger tables would take up valuable space from

the plant, and would probably just delay the problem by allowing the workers to store

more material on the table.

With the system of today, enough time is spent to remove materials to justify an extra

person for this purpose. An additional system to increase the efficiency is recommended

as well. Continous removal of material and better storage for tools will make the workers

able to separate more products before they have to clean the table, and the work can be

done more efficiently with the clean table. The material and tool situation will be

described in the next sections.

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Material removal:

Large parts occupy most space, and are beneficial to store in large containers outside of

the table. These are also the heaviest parts, and should therefore not require the worker

to do too big movements to remove it. Large parts are mostly: Ferrous metal, plastics and

large circuit boards (grade A and B).

Small parts does not occupy much space, but can easily mix with other materials. The

most common small part should therefore be put away quickly and easily. Less common

parts should also have easily available storage, but they present a smaller part of the

mess. They do not necessarily have to be removed immediately. Materials under this

category are: Aluminum parts, parts containing copper, clean copper, small circuit boards

(grade A1) and fans.

Wires are present in all components, and makes much mess when lying on the table. They

take up much space. Easy removal of these will take away an important contributor to

the mess.

Screws are used a lot, and easily float everywhere on the table, as an annoyance for the

workers. Simple removal of the screws would make the maneuvering of components easier.

Hazardous parts, like fuses and batteries, does not make up large volumes. It is very

important that the hazardous materials are separated. To make sure they don’t get mixed

with other materials, easy removal would be beneficial.

Special parts are found in many components. Because of the big variety of WEEE, it is

hard to have special room for all the parts. Some storage can be improvised without

making too much mess. Glass parts, fluorescent light and CRT parts are examples of large

parts of special waste.

Solution

Together with the workers we analyzed the situation and came up with some ideas about

how to improve the existing tables. Some of the ideas are described below.

Large containers can be placed on the side of the table for metals and plastics. They will

fill up relatively quickly, and should be quick and easy to remove and empty. Grade A

and B circuit board can be put in containers on the far side of the table in front of the

worker, by sliding the card over the edge.

Holes with containers in the table allows easy and accessible removal of materials. They

also present a problem, as the wrong materials easily can fall into the wrong hole. A few

holes for the most important materials can still be an option. The holes should be placed

outside of the most used working space to not be in the way, and to decrease the chance

of wrong parts falling into the holes.

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Storage boxes placed under the table are flexible, and can be used for the less common

materials that doesn’t have to be taken away imidiatly. This is a flexible solution, where

different boxes can be used depending on the articles dismantled. The boxes should not

be in the way of the foot space of the worker.

An overhead rack gives a good place to put small parts with small quantity. A rack can

be fixed to the roof, and will not be a hinder for the workers. It will not be very easy to

access, but does not have to be used that often. The rack can also hold working light and

tools that are not used all the time.

Tools

An open drawer on the side of the worker to store tools will keep the tools of the table,

but still keep them easily accessible. It should be open during the work to ensure easy

access, but be possible to close or remove if the space is needed for something else. It is

important that it doesn’t conflict with the workers space.

Power drill fastening in the roof will allow the use of a wired power drill without having

the wire in the way of the work done on the table. The drill should have an additional

fastening mechanism to get it out of the way while working.

The sketch below was made after the brainstorming process at RAEE Recicla, and

describes the current concept. The concept will be worked on further in the beginning of

2016.

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Figure 15 Preliminary suggestion for working station

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5 Concept development of layout for RAEE Recicla

In evaluation of the layout of RAEE Recicla, we have tried to identify problem points

that inhibits production and material flow to be able to make a suggestion for improved

layout. To do this we have looked at different steps of the production: value chain,

production management, material flow and layout, and done a short analysis of how they

perform.

Production management:

Production management is based on how the production and material flow is controlled.

RAEE Recicla receives a variety of EE-articles. Organizing the material flow in order to

dismantle similar types of EE-articles would be the most efficient solution. Example:

dismantle only desktop computers before moving on to TVs. This would create repetitive

dismantling and eliminate reorganizing times at the manual dismantling tables. However

this complicates documentation for client batches. As mentioned earlier the client batches

are usually mixed quantities of EE-articles. Each client batch need to be documented until

they have been weighed after dismantling. This is showed in the value chain underneath.

The client decoupling point shows were the client batch of EE-articles no longer is linked

to a specific client order (14). To keep the documentation simple and of same quality,

organizing the material flow in client batches is the reasonable alternative. This means

dismantling batch from client 1 until its inventory is depleted, and then start dismantling

of batch from client 2.

Figure 16 Value chain

Entry inventory

DismantlingWeighing and

documentation

Material inventory

Client decoupling

point

P a g e | 47

5.1 Processes and material flow:

Entry storage is highly unorganized and is only separated into different clients. Changing

the setup here will save time when collecting items. Many of the articles are also still in

packaging (inside cardboard boxes etc.) Result is more time to collect the EE-article and

unnecessary material in the entry storage.

Manual dismantling:

The tables are equally configured to treat all ranges of EE-articles. Our opinion is that

this serves the high variety of material best. This result in each article being dismantled

from beginning to end. Another alternative is having each table divided into one worker

doing initial dismantling, and the other performing second dismantling. In batches with

high quantity of desktop computers we recommend testing a system where each table

perform initial and second dismantling separated on the two workers. Products from initial

dismantling are passed to worker 2 for second dismantling. Example: On table 1 only

desktop computers are accepted. Worker 1 does only perform initial dismantling and

worker 2 only performs second dismantling. This results in a bigger repetitive dismantling

which improves efficiency. However this requires space for a work in progress inventory

between worker 1 and 2. This will only work if initial separation is faster than the second

separation. When inventory for worker 1 is depleted, he will start helping worker 2 with

second separation.

Weighing and compressing

Both are necessary processes in material flow. No change recommended.

Material storage is placed logically in terms of material flow and shipping frequency. The

yard take up a large area that is not used in the separation process. A possibility is to use

some of this space for storage in order to have it closer to the gate. An example is to put

the plastic storage long the fence closest to the road, and reduce the transportation way

for one of the most quantitative materials. However, the yard is intended as a relaxing

area for the workers, as well as it is the yard for Jonathans family. To change this should

therefore be up to the people living there.

Transportation of materials

To avoid obstruction of the material flow through the dismantling area, an extra lane of

concrete should be added along the working area. This way the materials transported

from the compactor or material inventory, don’t have to go through the dismantling area.

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5.2 Concept development of entry storage

Storage demands

Demand Must Should

Separate client inventory X

Separate different EE classes (computers, screens, printers) X

Entry inventory for 3+ clients X

Keep EE articles dry X

Be close to manual dismantling stations X

Easy to collect and add to entry inventory X

Low cost X

Allow for trolleys/carts to access storage easily X

Table 7 Concept demands

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5.2.1 Morphological table

Number 1 -4 represents different concepts in the table below.

Sub function Solution principles

Inventory

storage area

Floor with marked

area

Area with three

walls of chain link

fence to stack in

height

Shelves

Transportati

on of

inventory

Pallet truck (require

pallets)

Trolley

Roller conveyor

Pallets

Normal pallet

Pallet with fence

marked area without pallet

Table 8 Morphological table

Sources

Photo : table square 2.1: http://www.midlandpallettrucks.com/midland-pallet-trucks-

Product.asp?p=19620&product=2500kg%20Pump%20Truck%20550x1150mm

Photo: table square 1.1: http://www.aliiike.com/what-colors-to-use-in-warehouse-line-marking

Photo: table square 1.3: http://www.produktfakta.no/rydd-reolsystem-as-bygg-din-egen-pallereol-76234/nyhet.html

Photo: table square 2.3: http://www.automation-supplies.com/Roller-Conveyors-Chain-Driven.html

Photo: table square 2.2: http://haugesund.naboen.no/kategori.aspx?kid=15&kat=L%C3%B8fteutstyr

Photo: table square 3.1: http://mhlnews.com/facilities-management/back-basics-managing-pallets-assets

Photo: table square 3.2: http://www.gigant.no/products/wc717210/pallekarm-elforzinket

1

1

1 1

2

2

3

3

3

4

4

4

2

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5.3 Evaluation of concepts

Figure 17 Evaluation of concept: Cost-efficiency

Concept 1, 2 and 3 are all regarded as suitable. We discard concept 4 due to need of high

investment and solution occupying much space. Concept 2 is the easiest and least costly

but still leaves a lot of labor due to need of loading the trolley. 3 is more or less the same,

but with a higher degree of system in the inventory. Concept 3, do however take up more

space and is not suitable for big quantities of heavy objects that are not easy to place on

high shelves. Storage space is the concerning factor in concept three since it is not very

easy to stack in the altitude. Investing in fences for the pallets will help but add to cost.

Concept 1 is the most effective alternative, but demand buying a certain amount of pallets.

Pallet trucks are also more expensive than trolleys. The system is very efficient in

collecting from inventory due to the pallets with EE-articles can be pulled straight to the

dismantling stations.

5.4 Choice of concept for entry storage

Due to uncertainties of amount incoming WEEE and future productivity at RAEE Recicla

it is difficult to judge how big quantities the entry storage will have to handle. With this

in mind concept 1 and 2 are the most functional. Concept 2 will be most space efficient

and cheap, but concept 1 will be considerably more efficient. Evaluation from Jonathan

at RAEE Recicla will be necessary to decide on concept.

Concept 1 layout is showed below. Pallets are used to transport material flow through the

facility. An extra pathway of concrete is added on the side of the dismantling area to

allow material to be transported to the unloading area and steel storage, without going

through the dismantling stations. An unpacking area is also marked as a reminder that

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EE-articles arriving at the plant are to be unpacked from cardboard packaging, before it

is put in the entry inventory.

Figure 18 Concept 1

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Concept 2 is in terms of the layout, similar to concept 1. However the entry inventory is

not based on pallets, but with compartment spaces separated with walls. Collection is

done with a trolley as showed in the figure below.

Figure 19 Concept 2

.

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6 Summary and Conclusion

6.1 Introduction

This report has presented the work from four months of preparations towards a suggestion

for a layout of a WEEE separation plant in Bolivia. In this section the most essential

information will be summarized, and a conclusion of what RAEE Recicla can do to

improve their plant will be stated.

6.2 Summary

Bolivia is going through a rapid development, where the amount of waste created is

increasing quickly. One of the fastest growing types of waste is WEEE. In La Paz there

has been some small treatment facilities for WEEE for a few years, but only a limited

cliental are able to access these facilities. The municipality want to make it possible for

everyone to get their old electronics taken care of in a proper way, and are planning to

make a larger scale treatment plant. They also want to make treatment of other types of

waste by making a complete and sustainable treatment system in La Paz.

Because there are no large facilities able to invest much money in expensive machinery,

and because of the low labor cost, the WEEE separation is done manually in Bolivia.

Comparing with the systems existing in the world today, a higher percentage of the

materials can be separated by manual dismantling than by automated systems. However

it is more time consuming, and doesn’t allow the same level of depth.

WEEE contains a high variety of materials. Ferrous metals and plastics make up the

largest amount of material. They also contain valuable metals in small amounts. There is

a demand for many of the materials found in WEEE, so if the separation costs doesn’t

get too high, WEEE separation can be an economically sustainable process. The

environmental aspects are also important. Many of the articles contain hazardous

materials, so proper treatment is very important. Research has shown a big impact on the

surroundings around places where the materials from WEEE separation has not been

treated properly.

An important aspect of the thesis is that it is done by people with little practical

knowledge about Bolivia. It is therefore important to know our role in the project, and

not necessarily try to influence other aspects of the project than the ones directly

connected to our part. For this thesis it means that we should concentrate on setting up

a good layout and system for the separation plant, and listen carefully to advice from the

locals and not get too involved in the ways things are done.

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There are already a few other participants in the project. If they all are able to find their

role and fulfill each other, it can be an important factor for success. There are many

examples of bad partnerships that has resulted in bad results. A good management of the

partnership is very important, and in many cases it can be beneficial to use consulting

partners to help with this. Swisscontact may be a good candidate to keep a healthy

relationship between the municipality and RAEE Recicla in this project.

6.3 Field Work

By traveling to Bolivia we met all the involved parts of the project, and got a good picture

of where the project stands and what it needs. The municipality is working to make a

large and sustainable solid waste treatment system, while the private actor, RAEE

Recicla, is involved to be a part of and make the WEEE treatment plant work. Jonathan

Butrón in RAEE Recicla has some years of experience from the company, and his

experience is important in the establishment of the larger plant. The municipality has the

money to pay for the facility, while Butrón will help it become as good as possible.

With the municipality, RAEE Recicla and Swisscontact we agreed on the scope of this

project to involve setting up a layout for the new separation plant, developing a design

for the manual working stations, and making it suitable for disabled people. In addition

research will be done to study the possibilities for including refrigerator treatment in the

plant.

For practice and for the benefit of RAEE Recicla some suggestions for improvements in

RAEE Reciclas current layout has been done. A solution for working stations has also

been started. By working, observing and close interaction with the workers at the plant,

a good understanding of how it works and what need improvements.

6.4 Working Station

The main station at RAEE Recicla is the table where the dismantling is done. The table

gets messy during the work, and the workers get tired in the back by the working position.

In cooperation with the workers, some possible solutions for improvements were suggested.

This involves holes in the table for some of the smaller parts of large quantity; large

compartments on the side of the table for large parts; an overhead rack for light and

storage of components with a very low quantity, and boxes underneath the table for

storage of other parts. This is not a complete solution, but have the potential of increasing

the efficiency drastically with further work.

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6.5 Layout of RAEE Recicla

Improvement of the working stations is probably the change with the biggest impact on

the efficiency of the plant, but there are also other stations that can be important. In the

entry storage, where the WEEE is kept before dismantling, there is a large potential to

clean up and improve the efficiency. Today the articles are separated by what company

it came from, and not by type. By soring by type of component, less time can be spent

on looking for the right one, and it will be easier to dismantle a larger number of the same

type, which will improve the efficiency of the dismantling. Two options for how this can

be done are suggested; a smaller change similar to what exist today, but with a better

organization, and a system where the articles are organized on pallets, making it

systematic and easy to transport. The latter have the potential to improve the inventory

the most, while the first one is cheaper and easier to implement. We recommend

implementing one of these options, depending on how big the storage need will be and

how much money the company is willing to invest.

If a better repetitiveness of similar components are dismantled together, it could be

beneficial to divide the dismantling between the two people standing on the same table.

For components where initial separation is faster than secondary, the first person could

do all the initial separation, while the other person do the secondary. This is easily

implemented with a good communication between the two people on the table. When the

initial separation is done for all the articles, or the work-in-progress inventory gets too

big, the first person should help with the secondary dismantling. It does only work for

some types of articles, but it is not a problem to change between this system and the

current when new types of parts come in. We recommend testing this system to see how

the workers like it and what effect it has on the efficiency.

In the layout today, a large part of the plant is a garden without any practical function

for the work. If willing to give up some of the green area, it could be beneficial to use

some of it for material storage. A benefit from this would be a shorter transportation way

from material storage to the exit when the materials are taken away from the plant.

To avoid taking the materials from the material inventory through the working area while

taken away, a concrete lane should be added in the garden along the working area. This

will give a good material flow through the plant, and avoid disturbance of the dismantling

process.

6.6 Conclusion

The work done this semester will be the base for the design of the large scale layout that

will be made in 2016. Much of the plant will be based on the setup of RAEE Recicla. By

testing the suggested improvements in RAEE Recicla, it will be possible to see what

should be continued to the larger scale plant.

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7 Further work

7.1 Introduction

While this report contain much theory and preoperational work, the main part of this

project will be done in the first half of 2016. In this section the plans towards the final

delivery will be explained. The time period can be divided into three main deliverables: a

final design for the manual working stations, a research on the possibilities of

implementation of refrigerator treatment, and the final design of the layout of the large

scale separation plant. A time schedule for the rest of the project is shown in the diagram

below. We have decided to divide the topics into time periods with a deadline. That way

full focus can be spent on one topic, which will make it easier to get gather the thoughts

around one topic at the time, and thereby get more in detail. A detailed schedule with

target goals throughout the period will be made in the beginning of each period of time.

Figure 20 Master thesis time schedule

7.2 Working Station

In this report, a preliminary concept of a working station has been presented. It is mainly

based on the idea process we had with the workers at RAEE Recicla. Some more work

will be done on the concept, but the overall layout is most likely pretty similar to the

final layout we will end up with. Most of the technical solutions, such as box mechanisms

and mountings, are yet to be determined.

The plan is to focus the work on the working station until mid-February, when the final

concept will be ready. Much of the work can be done in Norway. When a good concept is

ready, it will be beneficial to be able to discuss and test the concept with the workers.

Prototyping will be an important part of this. Rapid prototyping will be done to test some

ideas in the beginning, before a final prototype will be delivered for further testing after

mid-February. To make the prototypes, it is necessary with tools and materials. We have

a solution for this in mind, but it has to be settled.

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After the time focused on the working station is done, the workers at RAEE Recicla will

be encouraged to test the table and give feedback. The focus on the station will be over,

but changes can still be done on the side of the focuses we will have later in the process.

7.3 Refrigerators

Today there is no existing system for treatment of refrigerators and other cooling/heating

equipment. Much of it contains hazardous gases with the need of special treatment. A

small part of the project will be to research the possibilities to implement treatment of

such into the plant. After the concept of the working station is done, an intensive period

of time will be spent on this research. General information will be gathered from research

papers and such, and the Bolivian situation will be compared to situations in other

countries. If good results are found, the treatment system can be implemented in the plant

layout.

7.4 Plant Layout

After this report, a good base of theory has been obtained. This theory will be used in in

the further work, but more research will also have to be done. The main focus of the

project will be put on the plant layout from the beginning of March to the end of May,

and thereby be the main focus of the further work.

Important questions that need to be answered before starting on the layout are: what

capacity the plant should have, what is an appropriate level of automation, and where

the plant will be built. So far a few alternatives for places to put the plant are available.

Some of them put restrictions on the design of the building, so it will be good to decide

on a site as fast as possible. This question will be influenced by our advice, but the final

decision is up to the municipality of La Paz to make.

The design process will be based on the research we have done, and close communication

with the involved parts. When all comes to all, none of the involved partners will have

experience with this kind of large scale system, but they will be involved in the economic

and social aspects. Other experts on the area will be used for consulting on technical

problems.

Within the scope of the project is to set up a solution for the physical layout for a plant

with an appropriate size and capacity, suitable for people with disabilities. What

machinery the plant should have is also included in the project, but to decide on the

specific machines (brand and type) may be outside of the scope (depending on the

P a g e | 58

information we can find). An estimate for how many employees and where they are needed

for an optimal flow of materials will also be a part of the result. Because we most likely

will not be involved in the plant when it will be built, a manual describing how the plant

should be set up and how it should be operated will be made. This will not include the

technical activities that will be done in the plant.

Some basic research has already been done how to make the plant suitable for disabled

people. Some information about this can be found in appendix 11.6. Further research will

be a priority throughout the next part of the project.

7.5 Field work

It is hard to keep close contact and understanding of what is happening without being

close to the people involved. Experience from the first part of the project showed that it

is very helpful to have a close relationship with Swisscontact and their experience, as well

as the possibility to discuss ideas with the experienced workers at RAEE Recicla. The

competence found in Norway is of less value for the result than what can be received in

Bolivia. Advantages of staying in Norway are the easy availability of a good workshop as

the university, and faster internet for research.

Without extended visa, we are allowed to stay in Bolivia for 90 days. Because of the

benefits of staying in Bolivia, it would be good to stay there for all that time, and then

spend the rest of the time in Norway. It would be very beneficial to do some of the testing

of the working station together with the workers in in Bolivia. Therefore it will be good

to be in Bolivia in the beginning if February. That means we will finish all the work that

have to be done in Bolivia before we go back to Norway in the beginning of May. The

time from the beginning of May to delivery in June will then be spent on doing

adjustments to the plant concept, and to write the reports.

7.6 After the thesis

Most likely, we will not be a part of the process of starting up the plant after our thesis

are done. To make sure what we have done can be used after we leave, it is important

that the people whom will keep working on the project have all the necessary information

and understanding of the thesis. A way to do this is to involve all the partners all the

way through the process of our project. Especially Jonathan Butrón in RAEE Recicla will

be a key person to make sure everything is passed on further into the project.

The manual we make will be an easy guide of how the material flow should work, but

does not give the in depth information needed to set everything up correctly. The language

of the report is English, which is difficult for many of the participants to understand. The

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municipality has said they will get the thesis translated to Spanish, and we will have to

make sure they do this, so the work can be understood.

After the thesis is done, the municipality will have competent people to look at what has

been done, and see if everything is as it should. The report can be used in the application

to build the plant, and can be used in the actual process of building it.

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8 List of figures

Figure 1 The waste hierarchy .......................................................................................... 4

Figure 2 Estimation of EEE and WEEE generation in Bolivia (5) .................................13

Figure 3 What is done with electronics in La Paz when they are discarded (5) .............14

Figure 4 Depth of dismantling (11) ................................................................................18

Figure 5Stakeholders in the project ................................................................................21

Figure 6 Concept development process ...........................................................................25

Figure 7 Backyard facility at our arrival ........................................................................29

Figure 8 Backyard facility after roof and workstations were set up ...............................29

Figure 9 Material flow through the facility.....................................................................31

Figure 10 Layout of RAEE Recicla’s facility ..................................................................32

Figure 11 CRT screen element Figure 12 Material and component fractions ..35

Figure 13 Working position ............................................................................................40

Figure 14 Ergonomics of reach on working table ............................................................41

Figure 15 Preliminary suggestion for working station ....................................................45

Figure 16 Value chain.....................................................................................................46

Figure 17 Evaluation of concept: Cost-efficiency ............................................................50

Figure 18 Concept 1 .......................................................................................................51

Figure 19 Concept 2 .......................................................................................................52

Figure 20 Master thesis time schedule ............................................................................56

9 List of tables

Table 1 EU defined WEEE categories ............................................................................. 4

Table 2(6)WEEE and EEE generated in Bolivia ............................................................14

Table 3 Order Request from client .................................................................................26

Table 4 Invoice from RAEE Recicla to client .................................................................27

Table 5 Materials in WEEE ...........................................................................................34

Table 6 Actions for improved working station ...............................................................42

Table 7 Concept demands ..............................................................................................48

Table 8 Morphological table ...........................................................................................49

10 List of pictures

Picture 1 The landfill of La Paz: Relleno Sanitario ......................................................... 8

Picture 2 Us with the chief chemical engineer and administrative consultant at the Relleno

Sanitario .......................................................................................................................... 9

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Picture 3 Separation plant at Alpacoma outside of La Paz. Workers separate the fractions

manually .........................................................................................................................10

Picture 4 Shredded polyethylene in the form, waiting to be heated and pressed into plastic

plate ...............................................................................................................................11

Picture 5 The four workstations at the dismantling floor ...............................................30

Picture 6 Us with Jonathan and the rest of the workers at RAEE Recicla ....................30

Picture 7 Working table setup ........................................................................................33

Picture 8 Most common tools used in dismantling .........................................................34

*Picture 9 Focus indicated by the red circle ...................................................................37

11 List of appendices

11.1 Project text (Norwegian)

11.2 Composition of waste typesin La Paz

11.3 Automated Separation System

11.4 Development of Generated EEE and WEEE in Europe

11.5 Project Thesis Schedule

11.6 Exploring possibilities of workstations for disabled workers

11.7 To Enter a Developing Country

11.8 Sources of appendices

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