Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered a keynote address to a packed crowd on the opening night of CES 2025, held this week in Las Vegas. | Photo courtesy of the Consumer Technology Association
Artificial intelligence and electric vehicles were major themes during the annual CES trade show this week, and panel discussions touched on the infrastructure – including hardware in data centers and battery recycling technology – that will be key to those segments’ growth. Continue Reading
The investment from equity firm Recognize comes after a decade of growth for Sprout. | DimiSotirov/Shutterstock
IT asset disposition company Sprout has received a majority investment from a New York City-based private equity firm, which predicts rising demand for ITAD services in the years to come. Continue Reading
While overall workplace fatalities decreased in the U.S. in 2023, the waste and recycling industry was a troubling outlier. | Wave Break Media/Shutterstock
Nine workers died in U.S. materials recovery facilities in 2023 and the death rate for refuse and recyclable material collectors jumped more than 80%, according to the latest annual numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue Reading
Updates to the Basel Convention, an international treaty regulating the trade of various types of end-of-life materials, will come into effect Jan. 1. | Don Bendickson/Shutterstock
With just weeks to go before new e-scrap trading regulations take effect worldwide, companies are feeling cautiously optimistic that trade disruption will be softer than it could have been. Continue Reading
A new paper in Nature Computational Science examines potential scenarios for AI-related e-scrap generation, which is driven by its data center needs. | Funtap/Shutterstock
As artificial intelligence continues to ramp up, researchers said the computing-heavy tool could lead to skyrocketing volumes of end-of-life electronics and called for equal attention to asset management. Continue Reading
Electronics were stockpiled inside a dilapidated Wisconsin warehouse for 10 years but are finally being removed. | All photos courtesy City of West Bend
Sandwiched between a quiet residential neighborhood and a tree-lined multi-use trail, a 10-year-old cathode ray tube and assorted e-scrap stockpile in West Bend, Wisconsin, is finally being removed and disposed of at an estimated cost of $3.2 million. Continue Reading
The Texas facility will use solvents to recover copper, gold and more from dissolved circuit boards, providing an alternative to traditional smelting. | Photo courtesy Mint Innovation
Mint Innovation, an Australian company that is scaling up a hydrometallurgical technology to recover precious metals from e-scrap, this week began construction on a $20 million refinery in Texas capable of processing nearly 9 million pounds per year of printed circuit boards. Continue Reading
The study found flame retardants in some black plastic kitchen utensils that contained recycled resin. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling
A recent study has focused public attention on household products containing plastic that the authors suggest was recovered from electronics, raising safety concerns about chemicals contained within the recycled content.
The rules will bring a number of devices with difficult-to-remove batteries into California’s state electronics recycling program. | Prostock-studio/Shutterstock
California regulators will accept public comments in December on regulations laying the groundwork for adding new battery-containing devices into the state e-scrap program. But those devices will not become covered materials for more than a year. Continue Reading
Shannon Fertitta was appointed executive director of the Global Recycling Standards Organization in September. | Photo courtesy RIOS
After years of interacting with the Recycling Industry Operating Standard as a manager at a RIOS-certified recycling firm, Shannon Fertitta was recently appointed executive director of the group that administers RIOS. Continue Reading