Cell Phones Recycle Themselves

October 28, 2008

Just yesterday I activated my new mobile phone (my old one got wet and went ka-put!). Now I have four old mobile phones lying around that should be recycled. I hesitate, though. Sometimes electronics meant for recycling get shipped to third world countries, where underpaid workers are used to disassemble the components and, in the process, come into contact with dangerous materials such as acids and cyanide as well as dioxins and lead.

(You may recall that Discovery Tech ran a "My Take" about this problem called Don't Recycle Your Computer.)

So I was intrigued/happy/curious to learn about a totally new approach to recycling electronics. Engineers Habib Hussein and David Harrison from Brunel University, U.K., have come up with a technique that allows electronic components to disassemble on their own.

The technique uses fasteners made of a smart, shape-memory plastics. When you heat the material at a certain temp, the material changes shape. So a fastener can be secure at one temp and then unfasten at another temperature. Once unfastened, the components fall apart without screws having to be undone or without clamps having to be pried opened manually.

Hussein and Harrison started a company, Active Fasteners, based on the concept and will be publishing test results in the International Journal of Product Development.

Image: Gallo Images - Neil Overy