Business Plan Calculation Tool

The StEP Business Plan Calculation Tool supports entrepreneurs in setting up an economically viable e-waste recycling business in an environmentally sound manner. The tool can also be used by policymakers to understand their region’s current economic conditions for e-waste recycling.

The tool is the result of a dismantling campaign conducted by the DRZ-Dismantling and Recycling Centre in 2013. The campaign analysed the composition of output fractions after dismantling 13 relevant appliance groups (desktop PCs, notebooks, monitors, TV-sets, printers, mobile phones, etc.). The average times for dismantling these appliance groups were collected for three different efficiency-scenarios (high, medium, low).

Applied dismantling levels

A) Superficial dismantling: Hazardous components and high valuable components, like printed circuit boards, are removed only and the remaining parts are destined for mechanical separation/recycling.

B) Medium level dismantling: Apart from removing hazardous components, manual dismantling of components into more or less pure materials and recyclable fractions is conducted where viable with reasonable effort.

C) In-depth dismantling: Appliances are dismantled up to a point, at which further separation into pure materials is impossible without mechanical shredding.

Results

Based on the specific data provided by the user, the results of the tool provide recommendations indicating which dismantling depth is most suitable under the existing national framework conditions.

The tool has been applied to develop business plans in Kampala, Phnom Penh and Rio de Janeiro.