System and method for disposing waste

A method of disposing waste articles comprising metal bulk and other components including foamed material, said method including the steps of:

• separating said metal bulk from said other components of said waste articles;
• cooling the thus separated metal bulk and crushing the thus cooled metal bulk by cryogenic crushing;
• crushing said other components of said waste articles into fragments;
• separating the fragments obtained by said crushing step into fragments of foamed material and other waste;
• crushing the fragments of said foamed material;
• separating the thus crushed fragments of said foamed material into plastics and a gaseous foaming agent;
• and
• liquefying said gaseous foaming agent by cooling and then collecting the thus liquefied foaming agent.

A system for disposing waste articles of the kind that comprises metal bulk and other components including plastic materials, said system comprising:

• means for crushing said waste articles into fragments;
• means for sorting the thus crushed fragments into those of metals and plastic materials;
• and
• plastic sorting means for sorting the fragments of said plastic materials, said plastic sorting means including:
• a first sorter operative to sort said plastic fragments into at least first and second kinds of fragments, said first kind comprising plastic fragments of sizes larger than the sizes of the plastic fragments of said second kind;
• cooling device for cooling the plastic fragments of said first kind;
• a crusher for crushing the thus cooled plastic fragments by making use of cold embrittlement of said plastic materials into plastic pieces;
• a second sorter operative to sort the thus crushed plastic pieces into at least first and second classes, said first class comprising plastic pieces of sizes larger than the sizes of plastic pieces of said second class;
• and
• a specific gravity sorter operative to receive said second kind of plastic fragments from said first sorter and said second class of plastic pieces from said second sorter and sort the plastic fragments and pieces by differences of the specific gravities of the plastic materials.

A system for disposing waste articles of first, second and third types, said first type of waste articles comprising those including metallic elements containing refrigerant and plastic elements of a foamed plastic material containing foaming agent, said second type of waste articles comprising those including elements of glass secured to other components, said third type of waste articles comprising those having elements made substantially of metals, said system comprising:

• refrigerant collecting means;
• large-size glass separation means;
• first feeding means for feeding said first type of waste articles to said refrigerant collecting means;
• second feeding means for feeding said second type of waste articles to said large-size glass separation means;
• said refrigerant collecting means being operative to extract and collect refrigerant from said metallic elements containing said refrigerant;
• said large-size glass separation means being operative to separate large-size glass elements from said other components;
• metal bulk separation means;
• first transfer means for transferring to said metal bulk separation means said first type of waste articles from which said refrigerant has been extracted;
• second transfer means for transferring to said metal bulk separation means said second type of waste articles from which said large-size glass elements have been separated;
• third feeding means for feeding said third type of waste articles to said metal bulk separation means;
• said metal bulk separation means being operative to separate metal bulks of said first, second and third types of waste articles from the other waste components of said waste articles;
• means for crushing said metal bulks and said other waste components into fragments and for separating fragments of light-weight materials from the other waste fragments;
• means for collecting said foaming agent from said fragments of said light-weight materials;
• and
• means for sorting said other waste fragments into metallic fragments and plastic fragments.

A method of disposing waste machines, comprising the steps of:

• sorting said waste articles into first, second and third types, said first type of waste articles comprising those including metallic elements containing refrigerant and plastic elements of a foamed plastic material containing foaming agent, said second type of waste articles comprising those including elements of glass secured to other components, said third type of waste articles comprising those having elements made substantially of metals;
• feeding said first type of waste articles to a refrigerant collecting means;
• feeding said second type of waste articles to a large-size glass separation means;
• said refrigerant collecting means being operative to extract and collect refrigerant from said metallic elements containing said refrigerant;
• said large-size glass separation means being operative to separate large-size glass elements from said other components;
• transferring to a metal bulk separation means said first type of waste articles from which said refrigerant has been extracted;
• transferring to said metal bulk separation means said second type of waste articles from which said large-size glass elements have been separated;
• feeding said third type of waste articles to said metal bulk separation means;
• said metal bulk separation means being operative to separate metal bulks of said first, second and third types of waste articles from the other waste components of said waste articles;
• crushing said metal bulks and said other waste components into fragments and separating fragments of light-weight materials from the other waste fragments;
• collecting said foaming agent from said fragments of said light-weight materials;
• and
• sorting said other waste fragments into metallic fragments and plastic fragments.

A method of disposing waste articles of the kind that comprises metal bulks and other components, said method including the steps of:

• separating said metal bulks from said other components of said waste articles;
• cooling the thus separated metal bulks to a temperature at which said metal bulks can be crushed by cryogenic crushing;
• crushing said other components of said waste articles into fragments;
• and
• conducting a further crushing of said fragments obtained from said other components of said waste articles together with said cooled metal bulks .

A system for disposing waste articles of the kind that comprises metal bulks and other components, said system comprising:

• means for separating said metal bulks from said other components of said waste articles;
• means for cooling the thus separated metal bulks to a temperature at which metal bulks can be crushed by cryogenic crushing;
• first means for crushing said other components of said waste articles into fragments;
• and
• second means for further crushing said fragments obtained by obtained from said other components of said waste articles and for crushing said cooled metal blanks.

A method of disposing waste machines of the kind that comprises metal bulks and other components including metallic elements containing refrigerant therein and elements of light-weight materials including foamed material containing foaming agent therein, said method including the steps of:

• extracting said refrigerant from said metallic elements and collecting the thus extracted refrigerant;
• separating said metal bulks from said other components;
• crushing said other components into fragments of metals and light-weight materials;
• separating the fragments of the light-weight materials from the fragments of metals;
• and
• separating said foaming agent from said fragments of the light-weight materials and collecting the thus separated foaming agent.

A system for disposing waste machines of the kind that comprises metal bulks and other components including metallic elements containing refrigerant therein and elements of light-weight materials including foamed material containing foaming agent therein, said system including:

• means for extracting said refrigerant from said metallic elements and collecting the thus extracted refrigerant;
• means for separating said metal bulks from said other components;
• means for crushing said other components into fragments of metals and light-weight materials;
• means for separating the fragments of the light-weight materials from the fragments of metals;
• and
• means for separating said foaming agent from said fragments of the light-weight materials and collecting the thus separated foaming agent.

A method of disposing waste articles of the type that comprises metal bulks and other components, said method comprising the steps of:

• separating said metal bulks from said other components;
• crushing said metal bulks by cryogenic crushing into fragments of metals;
• crushing said other components into fragments;
• and
• sorting the fragments obtained by said metal bulk crushing step and the fragments obtained by said other component crushing step into ferrous fragments and non-ferrous fragments.

A system for disposing waste articles of the type that comprises metal bulks and other components, said system comprising:

• means for separating said metal bulks from said other components;
• means for crushing said metal bulks by cryogenic crushing into fragments of metals;
• means for crushing said other components into fragments;
• and
• means for sorting the fragments obtained by said metal bulk crushing step and the fragments obtained by said other component crushing step into ferrous fragments and non-ferrous fragments.

A method of disposing waste articles of the kind that comprises metal bulks and other components including plastic materials, said method comprising the steps of:

• crushing said waste articles into fragments;
• sorting the thus crushed fragments into those of metals and plastic materials;
• and
• further sorting the fragments of said plastic materials, wherein said further sorting step includes:
• sorting said plastic fragments into first and second kinds of fragments, said first kind comprising plastic fragments of sizes larger than the sizes of the plastic fragments of said second kind;
• cooling the plastic fragments of said first kind to a temperature at which said plastic fragments of said first kind can be crushed by cryogenic crushing;
• crushing the thus cooled plastic fragments into plastic pieces;
• sorting the thus crushed plastic pieces into first and second classes, said first class comprising plastic pieces of sizes larger than the sizes of plastic pieces of said second class;
• and
• subjecting said second kind of plastic fragments and said second class of plastic pieces to a specific gravity sorter.

A system for disposing waste articles of the kind that comprises metal bulks and other components including plastic materials, said system comprising:

• means for crushing said waste articles into fragments;
• means for sorting the thus crushed fragments into those of metals and plastic materials;
• and
• plastic sorting means for further sorting the fragments of said plastic materials, wherein said plastic sorting means includes:
• a first sorter for sorting said plastic fragments into first and second kinds of fragments, said first kind comprising plastic fragments of sizes larger than the sizes of the plastic fragments of said second kind;
• means for cooling the plastic fragments of said first kind to a temperature at which said plastic fragments of said first kind can be crushed by cryogenic crushing;
• means for crushing the thus cooled plastic fragments into plastic pieces;
• a second sorter for sorting the thus crushed plastic pieces into first and second classes, said first class comprising plastic pieces of sizes larger than the sizes of plastic pieces of said second class;
• and
• a specific gravity sorter operative to receive said second kind of plastic fragments from said first sorter and said second class of plastic pieces from said second sorter and sort the thus received plastic fragments and pieces by differences of the specific gravities of the plastic materials and a specific gravity liquid comprising water.