Introduction
Source: Dismantling Guide for IT Equipment, which was elaborated within the SRI project and financially supported by SECO and UNIDO, June 2015
World Resources Forum (WRF)
Mathias Schluep, St. Gallen / Switzerland
Dismantling and Recycling Centre (DRZ)
Markus Spitzbart, Vienna / Austria
Institute for Materials Science & Technology (Empa)
Fabian Blaser, St. Gallen / Switzerland
Introduction
The technology of mobile phones has evolved rapidly during recent years and consequently the models differ a lot in function and shape. Nevertheless, the disassembly of a mobile phone has generally remained quite simple: remove the battery and casing and supply the rest to an integrated metal smelter which treats PWBs. PWBs in mobile phones are commonly high-grade quality and can – if supplied to the adequate downstream processor – generate a high revenue.
Dismantling Process
Depending on the requirements of the downstream processor, it is sufficient to remove the battery from the mobile phone and omit the further dismantling steps described below.
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Remove the battery first. Generally, the battery is located under the back cover. In some cases, there is no quick access to the battery, thus the casing must be pried open. Go on along instructions on [DS 23: Battery].
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Remove the casing and keypad from the inner parts (unscrew, pry open, etc.) and go on with instructions on [DS 17: Plastics] or the respective fraction data sheet.
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The remaining parts – mainly PWB and LCD – can be further treated as described in [DS 16: PWB – End-Processing]. PWBs from mobile phones are usually high-grade board quality (see Table 2). If easily detachable, it might be wise to separate further materials like plastics, steel, aluminium, etc.
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