Comparing the disposal of discarded CD discs in China and the United States

Scrap discs are a treasure


The finished optical disc is composed of base material and metal plating. Optical discs have very high requirements for base production materials, which are mainly manifested in high transparency, thermal stability and impact resistance. The base material for the production of optical discs is polycarbonate, which is synthesized from substances extracted from petroleum. It is a material that is in short supply in the world, and the price per ton is as high as 16,000 yuan.


Scrap discs are all treasures, and everything from the base material to the metal coating can be recycled. After being recycled, the base material can be used as a low-level optical disc base material, and can also be used as the shell packaging of some electronic products (such as mobile phones, digital cameras, etc.), as well as common outer packaging materials in daily life or a large number of other engineering plastics. The metal coatings of optical discs are all high-purity metals, and their recycling value is even higher. Each disc contains gold with a thickness of 40-100 nanometers. If you recycle 100 discs, you can get gold worth $8.


United States


At the CD Recycling Center of America in Salem, New Hampshire, old records are transported here in bundles every day, then made into polycarbonate plastic pellets (PC), and finally used to make cars and homes. Durable items such as construction materials and glasses.


As the largest waste plastic destination country in developed countries, my country has restricted the import of cardboard and most plastics since 2018, making polycarbonate plastic pellets made of CD recycled by the US CD Recycling Center nowhere to sell. Only seek other channels and internal breakthroughs.


Therefore, some organizations in the United States, such as GreenDisk, provide drop boxes for discarded CDs and other outdated technologies. They sent the CD collected from the technology delivery box to the National Association of the Blind Industry, where they were sorted and ground into polycarbonate sheets. These plastic raw materials are then shipped to manufacturers to make plastic materials for sale, including bobbins used to produce 3D printing filaments. GreenDisk also works with companies and institutions such as Warner Bros., Disney and the Library of Congress to process CDs.


Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional director Judith Enck said that from a global perspective, recycling CDs is not currently an important environmental priority. The plastic recycling rate in the United States has been very low, and the problem of plastic recycling has been slow. This is definitely an issue that requires attention.


China


At present, the domestic treatment methods for used discs are mainly landfill and incineration. However, for such special electronic waste, traditional landfill and incineration are not appropriate. If it is simply landfilled, since the base material of the optical disc is polycarbonate (PC), it will remain in the soil for a long time. As the number of waste optical discs increases year by year, landfilling is obviously not an effective treatment method; in addition, the metal content of the optical disc will Into the soil and groundwater, although it only occupies about 0.8% of the total disc, but the thickness is only a few microns, so the contact area with the soil is very large. For example, a 100,000-ton disc contains only 800 tons of metal, but its area It is equivalent to the surface area of about 1.5 million tons of 5 mm thick metal plates, so the pollution rate is quite fast, and it also makes it impossible to recycle precious metals such as gold and silver.


Simple incineration of waste optical discs is likely to produce carcinogens-dioxins, which can cause air pollution. At the same time, dioxins are very stable and have a high melting point. They are extremely difficult to dissolve in water and can be dissolved in most organic solvents. It is a colorless, odorless, fat-soluble substance, so it is very easy to accumulate in the body and is harmful to the human body.


Nowadays, the worldwide oil crisis makes the price of polycarbonate petrochemical products continue to rise. Such a simple disposal method is obviously a great waste of resources. In the context of China's rapid economic development, the problem of waste optical discs has become increasingly prominent, and the reasonable recycling and resource utilization of waste optical discs are of great significance for saving raw materials and protecting the environment.


COMMENT

We know that you care how information about you is used and shared and we appreciate your trust in us to do that carefully and sensibly. This Privacy Notice describes how we collect and process your personal information through Polynk.com website, products, services, online and physical stores, and applications that reference this Privacy Notice (together "Polynk.com Services").

1. Controllers of Personal Information

Polynk.com, no 91320481MA215T1W6Q, is responsible for the processing of your personal data. The following is Polynk.com’s contact information: Telephone number: +86 0519 87108958, Address: Room 504, No.85 Shangshang Road, Kunlun Street, Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, China, PR (together "Polynk.com") are data controllers of personal information collected and processed through Polynk.com Services. Details can be found here.

2. What Personal Information About Customers Does Polynk.com Collect?

We collect your personal information in order to provide and continually improve our products and services.

Here are the types of personal information we collect:

.Information you give us: The personal data we process about you are your IP address, your preferences and your activities on our webpage. The cookies collecting information about use of our website collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, which country the internet connection is from, which web browser and version is used and the title on the pages they visited. If you play a video on our webpage, YouTube might save cookies on your computer depending on your settings. Please review YouTube’s Privacy policy for further information. If you do not want YouTube to save cookies on your computer, do not play any videos on our webpage since YouTube operates these videos. When you accept cookies on your computer you will provide us with your information. If you do not want cookies to be saved on the computer, you can prevent this by not accepting cookies to be saved on your computer. Please note, that if you deny functional cookies the webpage will have limited function.

3. For What Purposes Does Polynk.com Process Your Personal Information?

We process your personal information to operate, provide, and improve Polynk.com that we offer our customers. These purposes include:

Purchase and delivery of products and services. We use your personal information to take and handle orders, deliver products and services, process payments, and communicate with you about orders, products and services, and promotional offers. Provide, troubleshoot, and improve Polynk.com. We use your personal information to provide functionality, analyse performance, fix errors, and improve usability and effectiveness. Recommendations and personalisation. We use your personal information to recommend features, products, and services that might be of interest to you, identify your preferences, and personalise your experience with Polynk.com. Comply with legal obligations. In certain cases, we collect and use your personal information to comply with laws. For instance, we collect from sellers information regarding place of establishment and bank account information for identity verification and other purposes. Communicate with you. We use your personal information to communicate with you in relation to Polynk.com services via different channels (e.g., by phone, email, chat). Advertising. We use your personal information to display interest-based ads for features, products, and services that might be of interest to you. Fraud prevention and credit risks. We process personal information to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in order to protect the security of our customers, Polynk.com, and others. We may also use scoring methods to assess and manage credit risks. Purposes for which we seek your consent. We may also ask for your consent to process your personal information for a specific purpose that we communicate to you. When you consent to our processing your personal information for a specified purpose, you may withdraw your consent at any time and we will stop processing of your data for that purpose.

4. What About Cookies and Other Identifiers?

We use cookies and similar tools to enhance your shopping experience, provide our services, understand how customers use our services so we can make improvements, and display ads. Approved third parties also use these tools in connection with our display of ads. To enable our systems to recognise your browser or device and to provide Polynk.com Services to you, we use cookies. For more information about cookies and how we use them, please read our Cookies Notice.

5. Does Polynk.com Share Your Personal Information?

Information about our customers is an important part of our business and we are not in the business of selling our customers' personal information to others. Polynk.com shares customers' personal information only as described below and with Polynk.com. controls that are either subject to this Privacy Notice or follow practices at least as protective as those described in this Privacy Notice.

Transactions involving third parties: We make available to you services, products, applications, or skills provided by third parties for use on or through Polynk.com Services. For example, you can order products from third parties through our stores. We also offer services or sell product lines jointly with third-party businesses. You can tell when a third party is involved in your transactions and we share customer personal information related to those transactions with that third party. Third party service providers: We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Examples include fulfilling orders for products or services, delivering packages, sending postal mail and e-mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analysing data, providing marketing assistance, providing search results and links (including paid listings and links), processing payments, transmitting content, assessing and managing credit risk, and providing customer service. These third-party service providers have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes. Further, they must process the personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice and as permitted by applicable data protection laws. Business transfers: As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or buy other businesses or services. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in any pre-existing Privacy Notice (unless, of course, the customer consents otherwise). Also, in the unlikely event that Polynk.com. or substantially all of its assets are acquired, customer information will of course be one of the transferred assets. Protection of Polynk.com: We release account and other personal information when we believe release is appropriate to comply with the law; enforce or apply our Conditions of Use and other agreements; or protect the rights, property or safety of Polynk.com, our users or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction. Other than as set out above, you will receive notice when personal information about you might be shared with third parties and you will have an opportunity to choose not to share the information.

Transfers out of the European Economic Area and the UK. Whenever we transfer personal information to countries outside of the European Economic Area or the UK, we ensure that the information is transferred in accordance with this Privacy Notice and as permitted by the applicable laws on data protection. We rely on European Commission adequacy decisions or use contracts with standard safeguards published by the European Commission and similar measures under UK laws for such transfers.

6. How Secure is Information About Me?

We design our systems with your security and privacy in mind.

We work to protect the security of your personal information during transmission by using encryption protocols and software. We follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) when handling credit card data. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards in connection with the collection, storage and disclosure of personal customer information. Our security procedures mean that we may ask you to verify your identity before we disclose personal information to you. Our devices offer security features to protect them against unauthorised access and loss of data. You can control these features and configure them based on your needs. It is important for you to protect against unauthorised access to your password and to your computers, devices, and applications. We recommend using a unique password for your Polynk account that is not utilized for other online accounts. Be sure to sign off when you finish using a shared computer.

7. What About Advertising?

Third-party advertisers and links to other websites: Polynk.com Services may include third-party advertising and links to other websites. Third party advertising partners may collect information about you when you interact with their content, advertising, and services. Use of third-party advertising services: We provide ad companies with information that allows them to serve you with more useful and relevant Polynk.com ads and to measure their effectiveness. We never share your name or other information that directly identifies you when we do this.

8. What Information Can I Access?

You can access your information, including your name, address, payment options, profile information, membership, and purchase history in the "My Polynk" section of the website.

9. How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Information?

Your personal data will be sorted out/erased according to the following: Functional cookies will be erased when the web browser is closed. Preference cookies will be erased after 100 days. Analytic cookies will be erased after two years.

10. What rights do I have?

Right to access to your personal data  You are entitled to request information about which personal data we process about you and how the personal data is being processed. You also have the right to request a copy of the personal data we process about you. Right to rectification If you consider your personal data that Polynk.com process to be inaccurate, e.g. information concerning your name or address, you have the right to get the inaccurate information corrected and to get the incomplete information completed by providing us with the correct information. Right to erasure You have the right to request that your personal data is erased, e.g. if the processing is no longer relevant in relation to the purpose the information was collected for or if you recall your consent to the processing and there are no other legal ground for the process. Right to limitation of processing You have the right to request limitation of the processing of your personal data, with the exception for storage. Limitation of processing can be requested for example if you object to the accuracy of the personal data or if you consider the processing of your personal data to be unlawful. Right to objection   You have the right to object at any time concerning the processing of your personal data in accordance with article 6.1 (e) or (f) (legitimate interest) GDPR, including profiling based on those provisions. Where personal data are processed for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object at any time to processing of personal data concerning such marketing, which includes profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing.  Right to data portability  You have the right to obtain the personal data you have provided us with in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have these transmitted to another controller, provided that the process is automatized and that the process is based on a consent or an agreement.  

11. EU General Data Protection Regulation and UK Data Protection Laws - Legal Basis

The EU GDPR and UK data protection laws require a legal basis for our use of personal information. Our basis varies depending on the specific purpose for which we use personal information. We use:

Performance of a contract when we provide you with products or services, or communicate with you about them. This includes when we use your personal information to take and handle orders, deliver products and services, and process payments.

Our legitimate business interests and the interests of our customers when we improve Polynk.om services (including when we use your voice, video, or camera input to improve services), when we detect and prevent fraud and abuse in order to protect the security of our customers, ourselves, or others, and when we provide you with interest-based advertising.

Your consent when we ask for your consent to process your personal information for a specific purpose that we communicate to you. When you consent to our processing your personal information for a specified purpose, you may withdraw your consent at any time and we will stop processing of your data for that purpose.

Compliance with a legal obligation when we use your personal information to comply with laws. For instance, we collect seller place of establishment and bank account information for identity verification purposes.

These and other legal bases depending on the purpose for which we use personal information.

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Cookie Policy/Introduction


Why do we have a privacy policy? 

Polynk.com (“we”) care about your privacy. Therefore, we always strive to protect your personal data in the best possible way and to comply with all applicable laws and regulations for the protection of personal data. In this policy, we want to inform you about how we collect and process your personal data in accordance with the EU regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”) to guarantee an open and transparent processing of your personal data.

Who is responsible for your personal data?

Polynk.com, no 91320481MA215T1W6Q, is responsible for the processing of your personal data. The following is Polynk.com’s contact information: Telephone number: +86 0519 87108958 Address: Room 504, No.85 Shangshang Road, Kunlun Street, Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, China, PR

What personal data do we process? 

Polynk.com process information about you when you use Polynk.com’s webpage by saving cookies on your computer. The personal data we process about you are your IP address, your preferences and your activities on our webpage. The cookies collecting information about use of our website collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the website, which country the internet connection is from, which web browser and version is used and the title on the pages they visited. If you play a video on our webpage, YouTube might save cookies on your computer depending on your settings. Please review YouTube’s Privacy policy for further information. If you do not want YouTube to save cookies on your computer, do not play any videos on our webpage since YouTube operates these videos. When you accept cookies on your computer you will provide us with your information. If you do not want cookies to be saved on the computer, you can prevent this by not accepting cookies to be saved on your computer. Please note, that if you deny functional cookies the webpage will have limited function.

For what purpose do we process your personal data? 

We process your personal data to be able to offer a functional webpage. These functional cookies are essential for your use of the webpage’s features. We also process information about your activities on our webpage over time for non-advertising purposes such as improving the site functionality, the website experience and to improve the website. We also process your personal data to help us remember your preferences such as language or location to create a better experience when visiting the webpage. Who has access to your personal data.  As a starting point, your personal data will only be processed by Polynk.com. Our IT suppliers might get access to the personal data and other information when developing and supporting our IT system. These IT supporters only process personal data on our behalf and never on their own behalf.

On what legal ground do we process your personal data? 

The legal ground for Polynk.com’s processing of your personal data by saving cookies on your computer is Polynk.com’s legitimate interest under, under article 6.1 (f) GDPR, to process your personal data in order allow you to navigate the site, use our features and for us to remember your preferences (functional and preference cookies). Analytic cookies are processed so that we can improve the webpage’s functionality and the website experience. You can always deny these cookies if you do not want us to save these on your computer.  

For how long will we process and store your personal data? 

Your personal data will be sorted out/erased according to the following: Functional cookies will be erased when the web browser is closed. Preference cookies will be erased after 100 days. Analytic cookies will be erased after two years.  

Transfer of personal data to third countries 

As a general principle, Polynk.com only processes your personal data within the EU/EEA. If your personal data would processed outside the EU/EEA, then we will make sure that such processing is either based on a decision from the Commission establishing that the country in question ensures an adequate level of protection or appropriate safeguards that ensure that your rights are protected or based on another ground for such transfer in accordance with GDPR.

Your rights 

Right to access to your personal data 

You are entitled to request information about which personal data we process about you and how the personal data is being processed. You also have the right to request a copy of the personal data we process about you.

Right to rectification

If you consider your personal data that Polynk.com process to be inaccurate, e.g. information concerning your name or address, you have the right to get the inaccurate information corrected and to get the incomplete information completed by providing us with the correct information.

Right to erasure

You have the right to request that your personal data is erased, e.g. if the processing is no longer relevant in relation to the purpose the information was collected for or if you recall your consent to the processing and there are no other legal ground for the process.

Right to limitation of processing

You have the right to request limitation of the processing of your personal data, with the exception for storage. Limitation of processing can be requested for example if you object to the accuracy of the personal data or if you consider the processing of your personal data to be unlawful.

Right to objection  

You have the right to object at any time concerning the processing of your personal data in accordance with article 6.1 (e) or (f) (legitimate interest) GDPR, including profiling based on those provisions. Where personal data are processed for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object at any time to processing of personal data concerning such marketing, which includes profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing. 

Right to data portability 

You have the right to obtain the personal data you have provided us with in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and have these transmitted to another controller, provided that the process is automatized and that the process is based on a consent or an agreement.  

Changes in this policy 

Polynk.com is entitled to amend this policy at any time if it is necessary to fulfill the requirements according to applicable laws and regulations or if it is necessary due to changes in Polynk.com operations.  In such a situation, Polynk.com will provide information concerning the changes according to applicable law. Applicable information will be available in this privacy policy, on the website of Polynk.com and/or provided in other appropriate ways.

Observance of GDPR

Do not hesitate to contact Polynk.com if you, for any reason, feel unhappy about our processing of your personal data. If you would still be of the opinion that your rights, according to GDPR, have not been satisfied you have the right to send a complaint to the regulatory authority. You will find more information concerning this on www.datainspektionen.se

Our contact details 

If you would like to contact us concerning our processing of your personal data or if you have questions concerning this privacy policy, you are welcome to contact us on gfy@polynk.com. Copyright (©) 2021 Polynk.com