PCs and display devices will have to meet new standards to be listed on a registry of environmentally friendly electronics. The Green Electronics Council (GEC) announced updates to the IEEE 1680.1 standard for new PCs and monitors. The standard touches on several aspects relevant to e-scrap processors, including removal of hazardous substances, ease of recycling and reuse, and more. Products...

Maine lawmakers passed an update to the state's electronics recycling law. The shift is intended to reduce administrative burdens for e-scrap companies. Last week, the Maine Legislature approved Legislative Document 1847 (LD 1847), which changes the way OEMs are billed for the recycling of some device types. It is now awaiting action from Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican. Under the...

Authorities recently handed down several penalties for improper management of scrap electronics. On March 6 and March 13, a court in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of China, fined multiple unnamed defendants 106,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $13,500) for violations of waste disposal laws. In August 2017, staff from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) discovered four recycling sites that were...

Global oil, gas and petrochemicals corporation ExxonMobil has joined The Recycling Partnership with a $1.5 million commitment. ExxonMobil is the first energy company to join the nonprofit group, which provides funding, tools and technical support for recycling programs across the country. ExxonMobil is one of the largest virgin plastics producers in the world. The Recycling Partnership is a nonprofit group...

In the course of one year, Los Angeles-area exporters cut their scrap polyethylene shipments to China by 99 percent, leaving thousands of tons of plastic looking for a home. Other countries were only able to absorb about one-fifth of the volume. Plastics Recycling Update recently analyzed scrap plastics export data from the U.S. Census Bureau, focusing on January numbers from...

Recycling equipment companies have released a new application for artificial intelligence, announced the start-up of an upgraded system and offered details on an upcoming MRF in Houston. The following is a summary of each of the announcements: Visual recognition capabilities Artificial intelligence technology provided by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) and its subsidiary National Recovery Technologies (NRT) has fueled robotic sorters...

Many recycling experts see China's imports curtailment as an opportunity to rebuild domestic recycling infrastructure. A recent workshop in Portland, Ore. fostered conversations on how to begin doing that in the Pacific Northwest, a region that has long been fairly export dependant. "I know we've talked about this for many years, but it's time to get really serious about it,"...

An initiative that has been the source of industry debate over recovery of hard-to-recycle plastic packaging is awarding $100,000 in grants to expand to more communities. The Dow Chemical Co. and nationwide nonprofit group Keep America Beautiful (KAB) will award grants to organizations to establish Hefty EnergyBag programs locally. Last year, the program gave two $50,000 grants to establish programs...

Global oil, gas and petrochemicals corporation ExxonMobil has joined The Recycling Partnership with a $1.5 million commitment. ExxonMobil is the first energy company to join the nonprofit group, which provides funding, tools and technical support for recycling programs across the country. ExxonMobil is one of the largest virgin plastics producers in the world. "Their $1.5 million investment in our organization...

The group behind the R2 standard released a broad plan for ensuring certified facilities better conform to the electronics recycling standard. Among the considerations is the use of GPS trackers to keep tabs on material movement. Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI), which oversees the R2 electronics recycling standard, last week posted a 2018 Strategic Plan setting out its goals and...