Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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
Battery-bearing devices are detected in the municipal recycling stream using X-ray imaging. | Courtesy of Battery Detection Solutions
An emerging equipment supplier uses an advanced type of X-ray imaging to locate batteries in recycling facilities while also aiming to capture data on the overall composition of commodities in the stream. Continue Reading
E-scrap processor URT will pay $129,000 in fines for failing to protect workers from lead and cadmium exposures during cathode ray tube device processing, OSHA announced. | Boonchuay1970/Shutterstock
E-scrap processor URT will pay reduced but still hefty fines totaling $129,000 for failing to protect workers from lead and cadmium exposures during cathode ray tube device processing at the company’s facility in Janesville, Wisconsin. Continue Reading
Tom Marieb of Apple discusses the company’s shifts on repairability during a session at the Electronics Sustainability Summit. | Courtesy of Electronics Sustainability Summit
About 600 electronics recycling, repair and manufacturing stakeholders convened in Austin, Texas, for the first annual Electronics Sustainability Summit hosted by electronics certification organization SERI. Continue Reading