Recycling Handbook

Standard Volunteer Tasks

Template

• Bins Required:
  • name
    • Size:
    • Contents:
    • QC into:
  • name
    • Size:
    • Contents:
    • QC into:

• Special tools:

• How to Teach:

• Special Notes:

Systems at the Bench

Tour of the Bench is a guide for staff and interns to use when teaching a volunteer to recycle at the Bench.
Basic System Deconstruction is a guide that volunteers can use to orient themselves to working at the Recycling Bench.

Optical Drives

This section is for desktop sized CD-ROM and DVD drives. Laptop size drives go into CBM.

• Bins Required:
  • Steel
    • Size: Meduim-large
    • Contents: Screws, the flat top plate and the bottom steel shell.
    • QC into: Schnitzer steel bin.
  • Circuit boards
    • Size: medium-small
    • Contents: Circuit boards that are green on both sides, with wires removed.
    • QC into: GBM gaylord
  • "Everything Else", guts,
    • Size: Large
    • Contents: The interior mechanism of the drive which includes plastic, smaller metal pieces, wires and small or low grade circuit boards(brown/tan on one side). Also, the plastic/metal disc that was embedded in the larger steel shell.
    • QC into: CBM gaylord
  • CDs
    • When a cd/dvd falls out of the drive it can be set aside in a pile.
    • QC into: Box of CDs, or return to receiving.

• How to Teach:

Typically volunteers should start by removing the screws visible on the outside of the drive and the top steel plate. This should expose the main circuit board which should be carefully removed and cleaned of any wires. There is likely to be a second smaller circuit board that can stay on the plastic body of the drive. The large flat-head screwdriver should be used to pry the steel housing from the plastic drive mechanism. This steel shell will usually have a small plastic disc in it's center which can be removed by twisting the large flat head screwdriver between the plastic disc and the large steel housing.

Keyboards

• Bins Required:
  • Hard Plastic
    • Size: Large (low-profile Rubbermaid are a good size & shape)
    • Contents: Keys and outer shell of Keyboard.
    • QC into: E-plastic gaylord, look for keys containing springs or metal parts.
  • Steel
    • Size: Large (Postal)
    • Contents: Screws, springs, plates, and metal rods from under keys.
    • QC into: Steel bin outside.
  • Filmy Plastic
    • Size: Medium
    • Contents: Filmy Plastic with Printed Silver Circuitry.
    • QC into: Put aside for separate slow-time task involving pulling apart the Filmy plastic layers.
  • Circuit Boards
    • Size: Small
    • Contents: Medium and Low Grade Circuit Boards
    • QC into: Medium Circuit Board gaylord and Low Grade Barrel
  • Wire
    • Size: Small
    • Contents: thin colored wire
    • QC into: Thin Wire gaylord

• How to Teach: Lift and remove all keys bigger than and including the 'Ctrl' key. Look for any rods or springs underneath these keys. Unscrew any screws holding the keyboard together. Separate the top and bottom. Remove any metal from the plastic, any wires, circuit boards, and the Filmy plastic with the Silver Circuitry. Put rubber pieces in trash-like bin underneath the table. Staff should QC this afterwards before dumping into trash outside.

Network Devices

• Bins Required:
  • Plastic
    • Size: Medium to Large
    • Contents: Plastic with little or no metal attached, no wires, LED's, switches.
    • QC Into: E-plastic Gaylord. Look out for missed screws and circuit boards.
  • Steel - Magnetic Metal
    • Size: Medium
    • Contents: Mostly for interior metal and screws.
    • QC into: Use magnets to test for steel, can be dumped by staff member into Steel Bin outside.
  • Circuit Boards
    • Size: Medium to Large
    • Contents: Medium and Low Grade Circuit Boards
    • QC into: Medium Grade Circuit board gaylord and low grade circuit board barrel.
  • Wires/Cables
    • Contents: Thin colored wires and heavier cords.
    • QC into: Thin Colored wire and Cords gaylords.
  • Everything Else
    • Contents: Low Grade Cicuit Board, Wires, Non-Magnetic Metal, filmy plastic, or any other left over bits.
    • QC into: Low Grade Circuit Board Barrel, Trash, Dirty Plastic, Thin Colored Wires

• Special tools: Magnets for metal testing steel
• How to Teach: Unscrew all visible screws in order to separate metal and plastic. Test the different metals for magnetic properties. Remove any circuit boards.

Daughter Cards

• Bins Required:
  • Circuit Boards
    • Size:Medium to Large
    • Contents: Cards needing no further deconstruction, Mid and Low Grade Circuit Boards, RAM.
    • QC into: CAT 3 Barrel, Low grade Barrel, and Medium Grade Circuit Board Gaylord
  • Steel
    • Size: Medium to Large
    • Contents: Steel/ Magnetic Metal
    • QC into: Steel Bin outside by Staff Member or Intern.
  • Everything Else
    • Size: Medium to Large
    • Contents: Batteries, Aluminum (heat sinks), and Fans.
    • QC into: Battery containers, Non-magnetic metal, and CBM.

Floppy Drives (aluminum chassis only)

• Aluminum
• Steel (covers, screws, etc)
• Circuit boards (controller card)
• Misc (motors, plastic/steel mix, cable/wire)

Heat Sink Fan Combos (ZIF only)

• Fans ,Wires, Plastic
• Aluminum (heat sinks)
• Processors
• Steel (screws, clips, brackets)

Hard Drives

• Bins Required:
  • Chassis
    • Size: medium -They get heavy fast
    • Size, special: Milk crates leak and are not recommended for laptop drives or when harvesting magnets.
    • Contents: All parts of the hard drive except for the circuit board including screws and attached foam pads.
    • QC into: HD chassis gaylord
  • Circuit Boards
    • Size: medium or Small
    • QC into: Category 3 circuit board barrel
  • Trash
    • Size: Trash Cans
    • Contents: loose foam pads and rubber covers
    • QC into: Garbage dumpster

• Special tools:
  • A "HD Toolkit" has been created -contains Torx 6, Torx 4, Phillips 00 for laptop size drives.

• How to Teach:
  • Separate the Circuit board from everything else by removing all screws that are on the circuit board.(other screws are irrelevant unless harvesting magnets) We have a special toolkit for the smaller screws on laptop size drives. Once the circuit board is loose it should be cleaned of any foam rubber. The screws and main body of the dr

• Special Notes:
  • We should now have the tools required to remove the boards from laptop drives. In the past we have instructed volunteers to pry off the thing circuit boards so that they rip neatly around the screws.

• Alternate method
  • Magnet Harvesting:
    • When harvesting magnets from the drive, volunteers should be instructed to skip any difficult or drives. Some drives get warped by the drill and torquing too hard has broken many tools.

Laptop Docks

Notice: As of now we are auto-recycling Gateway and IBM brand docks unless they have exceptional features such as cd drives or slots for Hard drives or PCMCIA cards.

• Bins Required:
  • Top Section of Dock
    • Size: Medium to Large
    • Contents: Top part of Docking Station, no further deconstruction needed
    • QC into: Keep in Bin for next stage of deconstruction
  • Bottom Section of Dock
    • Size: Medium to Large - bottom half of dock is typically heavier than top.
    • Contents: Bottom part of Docking station, no further deconstruction needed
    • QC into: Keep in Bin for next stage of deconstruction

• How to Teach: We have split Laptop Docks into two tasks. The first task involves seperating the top and bottoms of the Docking Station, with no further deconstruction. This allows one volunteer to use (in most cases) 1 size screwdriver for all the docks, instead of using different tools to complete the entire deconstruction.

Laptop Dock - Tops

• Bins Required:
  • Plastic
    • Size: Medium to Large
    • Contents: Plastic with little or no metal attached.
    • QC Into: E-plastic Gaylord. Look out for missed screws and circuit boards.
  • Magnetic Metal
    • Size: Medium
    • Contents: Mostly for interior metal and screws.
    • QC into: Use magnets to test for steel, can be dumped by staff member into Steel Bin outside.
  • Non-magnetic Metal
    • Size: Medium
    • Contents: Non-magnetic metal on interior, usually Aluminum.
    • QC into: New bin and place behind advanced recycling on floor near sign or on shelf marked Non-Magnetic Metal.
  • Everything Else
    • Contents: Low Grade Cicuit Board, Wires, filmy plastic, or any other left over bits.
    • QC into: Low Grade Circuit Board Barrel, Trash, Dirty Plastic, Thin Colored Wires

• Special tools: Magnets for metal testing
• How to Teach: Unscrew all visible screws in order to separate metal and plastic. Test the different metals for magnetic properties. Remove any circuit boards.

Laptop Dock - Bottoms

• Bins Required:
  • Plastic
    • Size: Medium to Large
    • Contents: Plastic with little or no metal attached.
    • QC Into: E-plastic Gaylord. Look out for missed screws and circuit boards.
  • Magnetic Metal
    • Size: Medium
    • Contents: Mostly for interior metal and screws.
    • QC into: Use magnets to test for steel, can be dumped by staff member into Steel Bin outside.
  • Circuit Boards
    • Size: Medium to Large
    • Contents: Mid Grade Circuit Boards.
    • QC into: Into mid Grade Circuit Board bin, Look out for low grade smaller circuit boards.
  • Everything Else
    • Contents: Non- Magnetic Metal, Low Grade Circuit Board, Wires, filmy plastic, or any other left over bits.
    • QC into: Non-Magnetic Metal Bin, Low Grade Circuit Board Barrel, Trash, Dirty Plastic, Thin Colored Wires

• Special tools: Magnets for metal testing
• How to Teach: Unscrew all visible screws in order to separate metal and plastic. Test the different metals for magnetic properties. Carefully remove any circuit boards.

Advanced volunteer tasks

Aluminum Drives

• Bins Required:
  • Motors
    • Contents: motors with or without integrated circuit boards.
    • QC into: Motors barrel
  • Mid-grade Circuit Boards
  • Steel
  • Cast Aluminum
    • Contents: Clean Aluminum chassis with no steel, brass or other bits.
    • QC into: Clean Cast Aluminum Barrel
  • CBM
    • Contents: Everything else including: wires, low grade circuit boards steel that did not come off pure.

• Special tools:
  • Power drill if appropriate
  • Phillips bit #2 and occasionally #1

• How to Teach:
  • Stress that with the power drill it is easy to strip screws and that striped screws make aluminum unclean.

• Special Notes:
  • John's Experiment
    • In one hour of uninterrupted work with the corded power drill I disassembled 21 large 5.25 inch aluminum drives. Smaller drives have low grade boards and more annoying screws. (In John's opinion smaller drives may not be worth the effort.)

this yielded:
14 lbs of cast aluminum
18 lbs of motors
1.5 lbs of midgrade circuit boards.
1 lb of junk plastic
unknown quantity of steel that has the aproximate value of CBM
unknown quantity of cbm (steel plastic and wire)

notes: I stripped 2 screws which i was able to remove quickly. I set aside 2 drives that looked like they would require excessive effort. I'll cbm them or clean them enough for dirty aluminum. My focus was on separating motors and midgrade circuit boards, I let everything else that came off of the drive pile up and go into a cbm, unless it happened to be clean plastic.

Battery Sorting and Boxing

• See Sorted Batteries
• Ask John or Liane for more details

Zip and Tape Drives

The bins are the same as Optical drives. More than 50% of the boards are category 3 GBM because they are practically identical to HD cards. I will occasionally offer these to a volunteer or two at the table while others are doing optical drives, or transition to them after optical drives. A T6 and maybe a PH00 is required. Jashcraft 01:44, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Wood Bearing Material (speakers)

Typically found on older speakers and A/V equipent, electronic devices with wood attached to them must be separated in order to put the wood in the trash and Recycle any metal, plastic, and in some cases Circuit Boards.

If wood can be removed simply by unscrewing, you can prepare the items inside the warehouse near the Deconstruction pallet near the Advanced Recycling Incoming sign. You can do this either on the cord cutting cart or on the rolling cart.

If the wood cannot be removed by unscrewing or gently prying apart from the remaining electronic components or case, it is recommended that a staff member or intern take it outside to be smashed (carefully) with the sledge hammer located behind the Recycling check-in desk.

Once the wood is removed, it can be placed in the dumpster behind the warehouse on the left as you walk out of the roll up door.

Remaining components will typically go into CBM.

Motherboards

• See Motherboard Recycling.
• See also Clean Circuitboards

Bench Setup for Motherboards

• The volunteer group Central City Concern disassembles motherboards every Tuesday morning. The following are instructions for re-configuring the bench in preparation for their arrival.

Supplies =

these are up above the MoBo/Cards shelves by the windows =

2 very big pink plastic bins,

the "MoBo Job Samples" box which contains =

6 little floppy-disk buckets;

the following you might have to scrounge from Recycling (but the box should have been preloaded during last week's cleanup, see "Notes" below) =

RAM - 6 to 12 sticks,

Button Cell Batteries - 6 to 12,

Procs - Socket & Slot - 6 to 12,

Heatsink/Fan combos - 6 to 12.

Rolling Steel Cart =

have volunteers empty it saturday nite,

install the 2 very big pink bins to hold the MoBos.

Non-Magnetic Metal & Small Steel buckets =

let them be empty, except for a little seeding.

BenchTop =

Red Bucket =

2 sticks of RAM

White Bucket =

2 ButtonCell Batteries

little floppy-disk Bucket =

1 for each workstation (volunteers will use these for screws)

UnderBench =

Speakers & Fans bin =

a socket proc

upper right (drives) bin =

socket-type Heatsink/Fan combo, a slot proc with plastic & heatsink attached

use 1 of the lower MoBo bins for bare Aluminum (less walking back-&-forth to the Non-Magnetic bin)

use the other lower MoBo bin for plastic (there shouldn't be much)

MoBos ready to be processed =

2 bins on each bench, twixt the workstations,

2 to 4 more stacked at each end of the bench area, near the systems pile & the Cords gaylord.

GBM gaylord =

if it is more than 1/2 full, swap it out to gaylord country, we'll fill it for sure, & it's easier than having to swap it part way through the MoBo shift, or leaving it for the afternoon shift.

Notes:

While the volunteers are at lunch clean out their bins, you'll have less cleanup at the end,

also this is a handy time to reload the Samples box.

Batteries =

  We do not ask volunteers to remove older "Dallas" style batteries because these batteries too closely resemble IC chips that are soldered
  onto the MoBos.  Removing parts that are soldered onto the board involves breaking the board, which is a safety issue. 

future changes being considered =

give each workstation a bin for small steel (less walking back-&-forth to the Small-Steel bin)