The present invention concerns the field of safe disposal or recycling of devices which include flat panel displays (FPDs) such as televisions, public information screens and signs, advertising panels, computer monitors and lap-tops, tablets and computers with integrated flat panel displays. The invention provides an apparatus for the disassembly of flat panel display units (FPDs) which each comprise a display screen provided on the front face of the FPD and a housing which accommodates the screen and associated electronic circuitry, the apparatus comprising: (i) a cutting station for receiving an end-of-life FPD, the cutting station being configured and arranged to make cuts into the FPD along cutting paths which permit detachment of the entire display screen, or a cut-out sub-unit of the display screen, from the FPD, (ii) an FPD characterisation station provided in advance of, or at, the cutting station, the characterisation station being adapted to measure and/or log one or more characterising parameters or identifiers of the FPD in advance of the cutting step, (iii) a data processing system in data communication with the FPD characterisation station, the data processing system being adapted to receive and one or more of said parameters or identifiers, and derive therefrom an appropriate protocol for cutting the FPD display screen, and provide instructions in accordance with the protocol which are sent back to the cutting station so as to control the cuts. An FPD database may be associated with the data processing system, the FPD database being pre-loaded with cutting path instructions for a range of known FPDs.

A recycling and fabrication appliance is provided. The recycling and fabrication appliance is generally configured to convert solid waste, solid materials and/or solid objects into a usable or reusable product. The recycling and fabrication appliance generally comprises a single unit with one or more inputs and one or more outputs. The unit may be a cuboid, or may be any appropriate shape, and may specifically be configured to recycle or repurpose solid waste, solid materials or solid objects into a reusable form at or near the point of consumption or disposal, such as a household or office. The components of the recycling and fabrication appliance may be housed within the unit and may enable the recycling and fabrication appliance to receive various solid waste pieces as an input and to produce a single usable output, referred to herein as a output object.

A system for the physical-mechanical recovery and refining of non-ferrous metals from electronic scrap, with means for the separation of the interest metals from the polymeric and resin support frames, which does not require the addition of solvents or temperature rise, for the disintegration and separation of materials, so that no toxic waste is produced for the environment.

A system for the physical-mechanical recovery and refining of non-ferrous metals from electronic scrap, with means for the separation of the interest metals from the polymeric and resin support frames, which does not require the addition of solvents or temperature rise, for the disintegration and separation of materials, so that no toxic waste is produced for the environment.

Disclosed herein is a method of extracting lithium from a lithium bearing material comprising the steps of: a) providing an aqueous oxidant mixture comprising water, an oxidising means, and a source of halide ion; b) contacting the aqueous oxidant mixture with the lithium bearing material to extract the lithium from the lithium bearing material and form a lithium halide solution.