This story originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of E-Scrap News.
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This story originally appeared in the September 2016 issue of E-Scrap News.
Subscribe today for access to all print content.
In 1977, “Star Wars” opened at U.S. cinemas. The TV series “Roots” aired on ABC. The Clash and Sex Pistols released punk albums. And the first Apple computer was sold.
Everything in our industry seems to be heading downward – declining commodities values, shrinking device weights and less gold in each piece of equipment.
Even after being in the scrap recycling industry for over 25 years, I am still amazed at how often we have to reeducate policymakers about the business. Despite long-standing industry efforts to distinguish scrap recycling from waste disposal, many still confuse scrap recyclers with solid and hazardous waste companies.
North Carolina is home to a robust recycling industry that creates jobs, generates tax revenues and diverts significant tonnage from our local landfills.
Accredited certification bodies use international standards and, increasingly, industry-specific additional performance requirements to audit product and service companies’ processes to determine conformance and award certification.
In the past six months, e-scrap prices in China has bounced back strongly.
Electronics recycling in just a few years in New Jersey has gone from a highly successful and widespread program that processed worn-out televisions and computers to one where a growing number of e-scrap collection sites are being abandoned.
For much of the past decade, manufacturers have had a “piñata problem” whenever electronics recycling issues arose in state legislatures. Continue Reading
Electronics recycling is one tough business. Industry companies are encountering high operating costs, low profit margins and the “C word” (commodities). What if technology could make the process more profitable?