This article originally appeared in the Summer 2018 issue of E-Scrap News. Subscribe today for access to all print content.   The debate over the merits and pitfalls of e-scrap exporting has been alive and well for years now, but one thing has remained clear: Choosing to ship material halfway around the world adds a thick layer of complication to the basic...

Illinois-headquartered Com2, which uses glass to produce a glaze for ceramics, has seen its processing activity cut in half over the past year. Com2 had outlined plans last summer to expand its CRT glass processing business and open up a plant in the Southeast. But the company's CEO, Saheem Baloch, said that move is no longer being considered. "Com2's supply...

Major cathode ray tube tonnages left behind by Closed Loop Refining and Recovery sit in warehouses in Arizona and Ohio as regulatory and legal action continues. A key part of older televisions, cathode ray tubes (CRTs) contain leaded glass, which has a negative value in recycling markets. Closed Loop Refining and Recovery, which was paid to take CRTs, collapsed in...

Large piles of CRT glass at Closed Loop's S 59th Ave. site in Phoenix. Photo from 2016. Major CRT tonnages left behind by Closed Loop Refining and Recovery sit in warehouses in Arizona and Ohio as regulatory and legal action continues. According to updated records provided by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), Closed Loop is now believed to...

With the U.S. e-scrap industry continuing to rely on the export market, companies are not only contending with domestic laws and certification requirements - they're navigating a wide range of complex and unique international laws as well. According to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the U.S. e-scrap industry exports $1.45 billion worth of material annually. Up from less...

ECS Refining, one of the nation’s largest e-scrap processors, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. But the move appears to be driven more by an ownership struggle than bottom line issues. Santa Clara, Calif.-based ECS, which operates electronics recycling facilities across the country, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 24 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern...

Update: On July 3, E-Scrap News reported on new developments related to this story. One of the nation's largest e-scrap processors has filed for bankruptcy, a move the company's CEO described as a strategy to avoid being taken over by an investment partner. Santa Clara, Calif.-based ECS filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 24 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the...

Shuttered CRT processor Nulife Glass continues to wade through a lengthy and costly cleanup of its East Coast operations. The company, which had developed a furnace technology but closed last year, has thus far removed an estimated 19,765 tons of glass from its operations in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, E-Scrap News has learned. According to officials in each of...

Over the past decade, third-party certification has become an expectation for many processors and refurbishers of electronics. R2, which is administered by Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI) and offers its certification on a facility-by-facility basis, lists over 450 certified recycling or refurbishment locations in the U.S. Meanwhile, e-Stewards, which was created by the Basel Action Network (BAN) and requires a...

The debate over the merits and pitfalls of e-scrap exporting has been alive and well for decades now, but one thing has remained clear: Choosing to ship material halfway around the world adds a thick layer of complication to the basic goal of managing the domestic e-scrap stream. "It's incredibly difficult for a recycler to figure out what's legal and...