CRT glass separated into leaded and non leaded cullet

Leaded CRT Glass Cullet

CompuPoint USA processes cathode ray tube (CRT) TVs and monitors in-house at our R2v3 and RIOS™ certified facility in Lawrenceville, Georgia. We separate each tube into non-leaded panel glass cullet and leaded funnel glass cullet. The leaded cullet goes to licensed lead and copper smelters, where the lead is recovered and the glass is used in the smelting process. Contact us to recycle CRTs.

What leaded funnel glass is

A CRT's picture tube is made of two kinds of glass. The front screen (panel glass) contains little or no lead. The cone-shaped back section (the funnel) and its narrow neck are made with heavy lead content, typically about 20 to 25 percent lead oxide, to shield viewers from the X-rays the tube produces. Because of that lead, funnel glass is regulated under EPA's CRT rules and can't go to landfill or into ordinary glass recycling.

 

Since new CRTs are no longer made, funnel glass can't go back into new tubes. Smelting is now the main recycling route for it.

Where it comes from

  • CRT televisions
  • CRT computer monitors

We process every CRT in-house: we remove the plastic housing, metal band, electron gun and other parts, separate the funnel from the panel, clean off the interior coating, and crush each glass type into cullet. Leaded funnel cullet is kept apart from all other glass streams, including the glass we use for blasting media.

How the glass is recycled

At the smelter, leaded glass cullet is fed into the furnace with the metal-bearing material. The glass is mostly silica, which acts as a flux: it helps form the slag that carries impurities away from the molten metal, replacing sand the smelter would otherwise buy. The lead in the glass is drawn into the metal and recovered.

Applications for the recovered materials

  • Lead: refined lead for lead-acid batteries, radiation shielding and lead alloys
  • Silica: replaces mined sand as a flux in smelting, ending up in the furnace slag

Compliance

  • CRTs and leaded glass cullet are managed under EPA's CRT rule and Georgia EPD requirements, under our EPA ID GAR000092056.
  • Leaded cullet goes only to licensed smelters, in the United States and abroad, approved through our R2v3 downstream due diligence program.
  • Every load is tracked to the smelter, and customers receive a certificate of recycling.
Aggregation Leaded CRT 1

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