24:21 The idea of the recycler selling the panel on the secondary market is great and I can see why the would do that as long as they can make more money from the secondary market than they would recycling the panel and selling the raw materials. In the 90’s I had relatives who worked at an auto salvage yard. They would take in wrecked cars and pull whatever parts could still be sold on the used part market, but then sell the rest for scrap metal. By the 00’s that salvage yard had gone out of business. There just was not enough demand for used car parts, as the market was flooded with cheap new parts and people didn’t want a used part. The auto salvage industry still exists, but I don’t think it is as large of an industry anymore.
I like this type of technology. My other project is as a gold miner, and economics have almost always made it cheaper to recycle gold than to mine more. I’m glad that it’s becoming more true for other metals now.
Hi, Matt as I see it there are two problems with recycling. The first one Is companies that go out of business and therefore, cannot be forced to recycle and the other ones “the Microsoft’s of this world” in as much as they pay somebody else, and they do not reuse or recycle but instead they pay someone else to offset the cost and get around the law so that their carbon bill is still there, but they get someone else is paid to take it on and not actually recycle but use a loophole in the system. I would like to hear your thoughts on that topic.
Years ago I remember seeing a company that grinds up generic trash, separates it via magnets, air, etc, to get materials separated. (Think of how a big distilation tower works, this was similar but instead of heat, it used big fans to blow from bottom to top and at each stage different things 'fell out'.) I haven't heard about them in quite a while.
About that critizism on the EU law: Not having to do anything and just having "dump on a landfill" as a baseline cannot be better. One core advantage for the EU laws (at least here in Germany) is that people are used to bring their e-waste to specialized facilities (not back to the manufacturers - but indirectly financed by them) that sort them and aggregate it. If you have financially viable recycling available, it is certainly much easier to plug that to an existing infrastructure than to start from landfill.
I'm fortunate enough to be close enough to a Best Buys. They will take any and all e-waste no questions asked. I'm not sure where it goes from there, but it gives me a real or imagined sense of doing something to help the planet. Would be curious on what Best Buys does with the e-waste they accept. Might me another show idea for you.
I always enjoy the dialogue between you & the progression of thought toward the end of the video for practical application. Gives me hope in this throw away culture.
Anhydrous Amonia is used as fertilizer todays. Yes, it is dangerous, but economically viable for certain cases. It has been used as refrigerant for many years too. We can handle it reliably, but it I agree that economics will drive recycling, like laws and ethics can drive something initially, but economics drive it long run. This is solar, batteries, and electric cars too!
I think a main facility at first then make smaller local mini plants. for instance a small plant local to a lot of used panels that maybe can only do the dose it work send to secondhand ..no its broke can we separate glass and such to get good materials .. if not send broken too bad sent to main facility with the grinder machine gets it once the tech issues are fixed then a version can be sent to England or such were the first company recovers the aluminum then send the rest to the broken grinder machine. once they get recycling done right and have the US covered then expand to other countries if they don't have a fix. There is a point were it is cheaper to send the machine and do it there vs sending the panels to be recycled. Again the main thing about recycling is putting it into groups is it cheaper for 1 facility or cheaper to make local facilities to get the waste.
Thanks for another interesting video. Also consider Z-wave products given the certification and interoperability of devices. I used a h o m e y pro . Had to separate the letters as YT dislikes the word.
About the trash savaging. I think this is something that needs to be done but it probably will not be done until Trash mining is cheaper than earth mining.. or until we fix other problems and that become the we need to fix to recover the planet more. Right now there are many plastic recyclers that will take all trash but if it is not 1 2 or 5 they send it on to the dump. There are so many things it is cheaper to trash and mine new than it is to recycle and that is why we have such a waste problem.
Just search regeneration of solar panel in place perhaps it is worth considering instead of recycling but the new economy would be shattered we trash everything @@Ralphie419
Matt, I respectfully disagree with your take on smart devices for those that are a bit network savvy and have reasonable bandwidth from their ISP. I have two separate air gaped networks, one with Verizon 5G Home Internet and one with T-Mobile Home Internet ($120/month for both) and get decent bandwidth. My phones, computers and other important devices are on one network (with TVs on the Guest Network with better bandwidth) and my smart devices on the other network. You can even use an old router for (bridging) and and get a separate Access Point for additional coverage. It works great for me. I have VPN on my router and devices and use Quad9 for DNS to avoid things like puny code. Enjoy all that you and your brother do to inform and entertain us all! Thanks again!
