Mar 20 2007
The University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) was one of the first bodies to sign up to the Cederika project, the first of its kind – recycling applied to CDs and DVDs – throughout Spain. This pioneer system, developed by the Bizkaia-based technology company Sarbide in collaboration with Gaiker, Haizelan and Recycling Plast, was launched in Bizkaia in 2006 after a pilot project was successfully completed. It has recently started to operate throughout the Spanish State. In the year it has been operating in the Basque territory, the UPV/EHU – the only State-wide university involved in the programme – has sent 30,000 CD and DVD discs for recycling, i.e. about half a ton.
As with the rest of the institutions and enterprises taking part in the Cederika project, the UPV/EHU has dedicated containers for the collection of used CDs and DVDs – containers distributed throughout the various campuses the university has in the Basque provinces of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa) The university also has various machines which, if deemed necessary, render the information on the discs useless, before sending them for recycling. Sarbide is responsible for the collection of the discs and sending them to the recycling plant - Recycling Plast, in Ortuella, Bizkaia.
Both DVDs and CDs are 99% polycarbonate, a top-range plastic, with a thin layer of lacquer or paint. It is not a toxic waste but an inert one, but it is also a potentially recyclable raw material. The recycling process starts with trituration and then washing of the material, the paint metallic layers of which are first removed. Then the material is melted and the resulting plastic mass is cut up into small pellets The new material is used to manufacture various items such as PC casings, telephones, remote controls, headlights, handles and car dashboards.