How do we get to a sustainable world where electronics are properly repaired, reused, and recycled? We go behind the scenes in this video series to show you how it’s done in practice in the industry. SERI’s new video series is intended to show a wide range of stakeholders outside of the industry how processes and activities in the electronics reuse and recycling industry are conducted. Though they will be fairly basic for those who process equipment, they should give viewers who are more removed from the process insight into topics that they might not be familiar with. 

More videos are planned, and we hope you’ll share these with others who might be curious and not have the opportunity to experience these processes in-person! 

VIDEO LIBRARY

DESKTOP DISASSEMBLY – (6:59) Desktop computers remain a major part of intake streams for many R2 facilities. Once these devices have failed testing, many facilities dismantle them before being sent for materials recovery. The video contains identification and management of focus materials and three examples of dismantling, including traditional desktops and an all-in-one Apple computer.

DEVICE REPAIR – (8:52) The repair of electronic devices can be undertaken at many levels, usually determined by an R2 Facility’s scope and level of expertise. This video shows the step-by-step repair of three different devices – screen replacements on a mobile phone and a laptop, and circuit board-level repair of a videogame system.

INTAKE & SORTING – (5:53) Sorting materials is one the most essential processes performed by an R2 Facility. This video shows best practices of proper intake and sorting procedures, data security concerns, evaluation of devices and materials for reuse or materials recovery, safety concerns, and tracking materials as they pass through each facility.

LAPTOP TESTING – (6:44) Many laptop computers received by R2 Facilities can be tested, refurbished and resold. Some facilities use a manual method of testing laptops and others use testing software for a more automated approach. This video shows both methods, and includes the process for making minor upgrades to laptops and demonstrates the use of tracking software to record the process.

LCD LED DISASSEMBLY – (4:33) This video explains the two types of flatscreen displays (LCD and LED) and shows the step-by-step disassembly of each, including focus material management, safety concerns and separation of components for materials recovery.

LOGICAL DATA SANITIZATION – (7:11) Logical data sanitization, also called data wiping or data erasure, takes many forms depending on the device being sanitized and the storage technology used.  Several methods of logical sanitization for hard drives and solid state drives (SSDs) are shown in this video, including in-device sanitization of tablets and mobile devices.

MOBILE TESTING – (5:40) Most R2 Facilities are seeing increasing quantities of mobile devices in their intake streams. This video demonstrates software-assisted manual testing of phones and tablets, automated testing of device functions, and identification of phones and tablets with device locks that prevent testing.

NETWORK SWITCH TESTING – (5:46)  Because of their fixed locations within enterprise IT systems, many network switches can be tested and resold. This video demonstrates logical data sanitization, testing for Power Over Internet (PoE) functionality, data exchange, gigabit and SFP port testing, use of testing software, and manual testing of various network switches.

PHYSICAL DATA SANITIZATION – (3:50) Physical data sanitization, also called data destruction is an essential component of any data security program. This video covers the physical destruction of hard drives, solid state drives and optical media (such as CDs or DVDs) at several facilities. Shredding and degaussing are discussed and demonstrated.

RAM TESTING – (5:32) This video explains the different types of Random Access Memory (RAM), used in almost every computing device, and shows how each type of RAM can be tested, using automated testing devices or computers, servers or videogame systems to test various RAM modules, with associated software to control the testing and to record the results.