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Well I never knew this. Last week we were informed at the yard we can no longer put printers/fax/copiers in the roll off because they contain arsenic. The manager that was here last week from the other yard told us that the one company we ship shred to no longer wants these items, no electronics basically.
I didn't know this about electronics so I looked it up and its true.
Scrapper, Scrap Yard Worker, Horse farm worker, Cooler Puller and just plain ''tired''
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Got tob e shipping them to CaliforniaOriginally Posted by newattitude
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There is no arsenic in consumer electronics of any kind sold in the united states. Has not been since the 70s. However the wipes and drum liner in laser printers is asbestos.
WI ITAD LLC, IT Liquidation Services, we remarket, buy and sell scrap electronics No customer too large or small!
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Where did you read about this? There's arsenic in apples too
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That state is F*****g NUTS. Bought a receiver for a trailer hitch over the weekend. There was a sticker on it that said that it contained material known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects, etc..
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Let me rephrase that. Arsenic is a natural substance so far as I know and in literal mknute quantiy might be present in some plastics...
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Look, I don't know what quantity it is found in these electronics, I just know what we were told.
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I've seen the same sticker on garden hoses and water sprinklers. What are the people in Ca. doing with these things?
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Very interesting info, thanks for sharing. Yards around here don't take electronics of any sort with the light iron pile (shred/tin/etc) but I thought the main reason was because of the capacitors on the boards and/or other hazardous materials. I definitely didn't realize arsenic was in electronics, not to mention all the other stuff.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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Just don't lick your fingers while you're scrapping them...
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What I'm saying is hold the phone guys because what the yard said or what they were told is not actually true. NewAttitude's yard believes it to be and hey who knows state department of natural resources might have done an inspection and found asbestos or lead or whatever in the pile, or coming through the shredder. I know some yards do ham handed things so that they can ultimately fill a contract that stipulates the shred must actually be a certain percent iron. (An easy way to assure this is to keep printers, copiers, etc. out of the pile. Likewise, upstream the buyer or even an uplevel scrap yard has their own contracts. It could be during the melt when they do chemistry they found arsenic in the chemistry which actually isn't that uncommon, and sent a yard boy out to the rail cars to see what was in their incoming shred. Yard "boss" comes back and says theres alot of green boards and plastic in there, well guess what, suddenly that's off the list of acceptables.
My point being, calm down, that's one yard. Sadoff tells me time and again, don't bother with stripping the printers and stuff because it all ends up in the melt and they quite literally drain off the heavies and skim the dross, no problem. Here's a piece for you. Unless the LABEL on a consumer product made after 2009 says "Pb" on it, that board in there doesn't have any lead in it. Arsenic is a federally regulated element, it is tested for in consumer level products. They test for it in plastics chemistry. It is not used in the manufacture of boards any longer (it used to be) as part of the etching process. Now, most chemicals are citrus based. The regulations behind this can be found on the epa website and yes websites for manufacturers of electronics in the united states, eaton cutler hammer is a good local example. They are a customer of mine and I have seen how and what they use in their processes. NOTHING toxic anymore, it's just too expensive to adhere to regulations for using toxic substances.
There is ONE caveat, the Gallium-Arsenide SMD Capacitor. However, like leaded glass it does not leach naturally. University of Wisconsin has tested outdoor exposed electronic PCB boards and found no significant rise in heavy metals or toxic substances collected from leaching. I do not like misinformation, in fact I absolutely abhor it.
There is more arsenic present in an aluminum window frame than a computer motherboard, fact.
Last edited by armygreywolf; 11-19-2014 at 09:04 PM. Reason: mis-spelling
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Brown rice contains more Arsenic then white rice. point? It's every where it is a natural substance. Hope those California birds don't land on the ground or eat any worms.
"anyone who thinks scrappin is easy money ain't doin it right!"
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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I am quite sure that they are talking about the photocopier drums.
The are mostly selenium , but some are a mix of selenium and arsenic.
Hell, if you don't know about that hazard...... I knew about it when I was 12 or such.
Even to touch the drums considered a overdose. But I could be wrong about that.
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Your wrong, the DRUM has nothing on it, the developer on old copiers does, back in the days when copiers required liquid developer, also plate makers for presses obviously. The laser in a laser printer used to be and sometimes still is a gallium arsenide laser, which is a bonded chemical and has no bearing in leaching or in processing. Copiers with liquid developer were last made in the 80s so far as I've seen in my adventures. Nearly all laser printers I've gotten in scrap use either an c02 laser or a led laser, depending on the brand and speed of the printer.
((pulled this from an article on drum composition))
The OPC or Organic Photo Conductor Drum is the heart and soul of a laser printer. This is one component that makes laser printing really possible. The process of electro-photographic (EP) printing requires the OPC Drum to play host to the negatively charged raster graphic image routed by the laser scanning assembly. How the OPC Drum accepts and retains the electro-static charge can be determined by inspecting the materials and substances applied to the Drum’s surface.
The term Organic simply indicates that the OPC Drum is coated with biodegradable materials that will not in any way cause harm to the environment. The drum’s coating is made up of petroleum substances such as carbon based chemicals. These are photoconductive polymers extracted from by products of fossil fuel refining activities. Manufactured from organic compounds, OPC Drum coatings are classified as non- hazardous and can therefore be used extensively in various printing applications, particularly that of the laser printing equipment. Earlier released photoreceptors such as the Arsenic Triselinide (As2Se3) and Selenium Tellurium (SeTe) Drums were considered hazardous.
To be even more specific, unless your scrapping 30 year old industrial xerox machines there is NO FRICKIN WAY you have arsenic in a business or consumer level laser printer. And as for inkjets, it's soy, you can drink it if that was your fancy. Every day I have to explain to people what happens to their devices once they are given to me. To be fair when it's a device I know was made before 2006, boards come out for sure. If it was made before 1988-89 chances are I also pull the cartridges and the toner AND the drum. After that there isn't anything hazardous in there anyways. If by chance your yard did accept a copier or two with liquid developer, which contains arsenic...then stop the presses, that answers the question.
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I actually specialize in scrapping large industrial printers when I can get my hands on them.........I have scrapped multiple IBM Units from the 80's.............I have had printers weighing close to 1500 lbs..............I paid $200 for one here locally and sold the control tower to a member here on the forum for $150 leaving me 1500lbs of scrap for $50............They don't come up often but when they do I try to grab them............Lots of transformers some boards, wire and lots of heavy metal...........I am not dead yet (sometimes may feel like it)..........Wonder how much arsenic is floating around in this old body
BUYING ALL COMPUTER SCRAP WORKING OR NOT
CHECK OUT MY BUYERS THREAD http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...nic-scrap.html
https://getjunk.net/Knox-County-TN-0...Recycling.html
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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This is blatant speculation on my part but i wonder if they got arsenic confused with chromium. I was doing some research about on the job hazards and ran across something about the little SMD's that have two legs on one side and one on the other. Supposedly, one state EPA was raising this as an issue. If the electronics are stored outdoors and the boards degrade then chromium could be released into the soil.
I suppose it would be a similar hazard if you were running the boards through a shredder but the dust would be airborne. ?
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Here is the real reason: They just don't want printers and had to make something up as a reason why. A while back a newer scrap yard told me they don't take printers because of the Mercury inside. One day I was talking to the owner and he told me as long as they are mostly metal they can take them. My point is that scrap yards tell people all kinds of crazy crap all the time, based on who knows what, for reasons unknown to anyone. Sometimes I feel like when you ask them a question they just go and draw an answer out of a hat.
Resist the urge to lick your scrap. Mike
"Profit begins when you buy NOT when you sell." {quote passed down to me from a wise man}
Now go beat the copper out of something, Miked
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And here I snack on gummi worms and stuff while im working...oops.
All valid points gentleman (and ladies). I just wanted to nip it in the butt before anyone got the idea they are dealing with actual hazardous waste. Powers that be much higher than any of us have already made those determinations, california excluded because apparently air gives you cancer in california.
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Yes, boards going through a shredder leave all kinds of particulates in the air, lead included in some cases, none of which you really want in your lungs but at the same time, not much in them that is potentially dangerous. We know there are legitimate dangers in the microwave magnetron, old ballasts and transformer oil from the 60s and 70s. We know about leaded glass, and early design LCD screens, fluorescent lights and backlights with trace mercury vapor. There are hazards to the e waste industry absolutely but knowing what your dealing with is 99% of the battle to keep yourself safe and the environment healthy.
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