In January 2017, E-Terra acquired an internationally standardized CRT recycling facility making it the first company in Nigeria with technology to safely and securely process cathode ray tube televisions and monitors. The CRT recycling equipment was delivered to the company’s Material Recovery Facility (MRF) plant at Abule Ado, Lagos by the German company URTUmwell-und Recyclingtechnik Gmbh, who are thefirsttosupplyCRT recycling technology in West Africa.
Our MRF plant has the capacity to treat approximately 200 cathode ray tubes daily. The collection and recycling of CRTs are of paramount interest to E-Terra Technologies because of the negative environmental and health impacts of a lack of effective CRT treatment in Nigeria. The global transition from CRT to flat screen televisions and monitors created no active collection system in Nigeria for communities to hand over and treat their CRTs in an environmentally sound manner. This has left our societies defenseless against lead and cadmium poisoning associated with CRTs. E-Terra medicates this critical flaw with the sustainable and effective solution of collecting CRTs from grassroots communities and corporate abodes for responsible treatment at our MRF plant.
When the CRT dismantling process starts at our MRF, the plastic casing of the monitor is firstly removed. Once the plastics, glass tubes, screens, motherboards and other parts have been separated, they are passed through a detoxifier to suction out the associated poisons. Treated materials are then crushed into compact sizes and sold to processors who further refine them for production of new materials some of which include upcycled products. Overall, E-Terra’s pioneering CRT recycling process reduces the impact of mining for new products and keeps toxins out of our societies.