The companies, based in Wisconsin and California, are leveraging their strengths to produce Basel-compliant recycled e-plastics. | KPixMining/Shutterstock
Wisconsin-based Universal Recycling Technologies and California’s Hanil Eco Solutions are combining their expertise to achieve Basel Convention compliance in e-plastics recycling, the companies announced this week.
“This is our ability to meet the Basel standard by shipping our mixed plastic – specifically our ABS, PS, mixed plastic – to Hanil in California, where they do the final separation, and they also have compounding capabilities themselves,” URT President Ken Thomas told E-Scrap News.
The Basel Convention is an international treaty governing how certain types of hazardous waste can move between nations. The treaty has been ratified by 191 countries, who agree to adopt these regulations within their domestic laws. Although most countries in the world are party to the convention, the U.S. is a notable exception.
In 2021, an amendment to the convention brought mixed scrap plastic into its purview, causing immediate strife for U.S. e-scrap firms looking to move e-plastics. Historically, domestic processing of these plastics has been negligible, and they’ve been baled as mixed plastics and shipped overseas for processing. The recent Basel amendment complicated that option, because with the U.S. not being party to the convention, most overseas markets are technically prohibited from importing U.S.-sourced Basel-regulated material.
One way to comply with the regulations even in a non-party country, is the ensure the material does not meet the criteria for Basel regulation. For e-plastics, that means separating the resins more than processors typically do.
“What makes this work between URT and Hanil is the fact that we already had a sink-float system in place,” he said. Meeting the requirements of the Basel Convention typically requires a separation system in which heavier materials such as metals sink to the bottom while plastics float to the top.
“It basically does an initial separation. So to the extent that we develop excess capacity, there’s the potential to work with other recyclers that produce the mixed plastic.”
Hanil’s recycled e-plastics are shipped from Southern California to South Korea, where parent company Hanil Chemical is headquartered. Ideally their recycled resin will be used in U.S. manufacturing, Thomas said, but “the key thing is that the entire process is Basel-compliant.”
He added that both he and Hong Suk Yoon, president of Hanil Eco Systems, are continually looking for compounding and OEM partners that want to use recycled e-plastics in their manufacturing.
“This (alliance) will also allow for OEMs to set up production in the United States, knowing that they’ve got a source of quality recycled plastic,” he said.
The two companies made initial contact in 2023, but serious discussions did not start until around last March, Thomas said. URT has supplied almost 3 million pounds of plastics to Hanil so far.
Based in Southern California, Hanil Eco Solutions supplies recycled e-plastics including ABS, high-impact and general-purpose PS, PP and PC, sourced from electronics, appliances, vehicles and more.
“Our collaboration with URT underscores our dedication to advancing the electronic recycling industry,” Hong Suk Yoon, president of Hanil Eco Solutions, said in a press release. “This collaboration reinforces our commitment to environmental stewardship on a global scale and positions us at the forefront of responsible electronic waste management.”
URT, based in Janesville, Wisconsin, provides ITAD and e-recycling services, including secure data destruction.
More exporting challenges are on the horizon for U.S. e-scrap firms. Starting in January 2025, a separate Basel amendment takes effect that will significantly expand the list of e-scrap materials subject to Basel regulation. Under some readings, that amendment will prohibit the movement of most e-scrap materials from the U.S. to most foreign countries.