Importance of Recycling in Electronic Waste

The Importance of Recycling in Electronic Waste Founded in Germany in 1999, Exitcom began Turkey's first electronic waste recycling operations in 2003. Developing itself through R&D activities and participation in international conferences, Exitcom has gradually become an integrated facility by incorporating Turkey's first and only Lamp/Fluorescent, Cartridge/Toner and Battery recovery operations into its processes.

Placing Emphasis on Data Security

Of the 53.6 million tons of electronic waste generated globally in 2019, the amount of electronic waste increasing each day due to technological advancement and rising consumption resulted in only 17.4% being officially recycled. Exitcom General Manager Murat Ilgar, noting that this ratio is also quite low in our country, made important statements on the matter. Stating that electronic waste is valuable, hazardous and information-bearing, Ilgar said, "Since these waste materials contain quite valuable raw materials in terms of circular economy and at the same time, various waste such as refrigerators and monitors contain harmful substances, they need to be recycled under appropriate conditions without harming nature." Murat Ilgar, emphasizing that data security is one of the most important issues in electronic waste, noted that many electronic items we use in daily life, from mobile phones to computers, contain our personal information, adding "Within our facility, we provide many services such as data deletion, physical destruction, document/archive destruction and brand destruction under international data security standards."

Recovering Many Valuable and Critical Raw Materials Back to the Economy

Exitcom, recovering many valuable and critical raw materials back to the economy, provides raw material recovery from primary and secondary batteries through international battery recycling services including physical, chemical (hydrometallurgical) and thermal (pyrometallurgical) processes. Exitcom, able to process electric vehicle batteries, one of the most current and developing topics of recent times, prioritizes reuse by first testing batteries with secondary lifespan in its facility. Exitcom General Manager Murat Ilgar stated on the matter, "We closely follow international policies and directives. In this context, the EU directive proposal on battery and accumulator use submitted on 10 March 2022 will require minimum quantities of recycled cobalt, nickel and lithium to be used in newly manufactured industrial, electric vehicle and automotive batteries from 2030 onwards."

Drawing Attention to Global Warming and Climate Change

Murat Ilgar, noting that they continue to develop themselves in areas such as sustainability, circular and green economy, lifecycle and reuse with many new regulations implemented in recent years, stated that global warming and climate change has taken its place among the most current issues of recent times, along with the increase in extreme weather conditions affecting the entire world. Exitcom closely follows the "European Green Deal," announced by the European Commission in December 2019, which aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050, and the policies it puts forward.