Industry Announcements
E-Scrap News highlights the latest announcements from industry companies and organizations. For information on submitting press releases or contributing op-eds to us, review our FAQ page.
E-Scrap News highlights the latest announcements from industry companies and organizations. For information on submitting press releases or contributing op-eds to us, review our FAQ page.
Apple closed all stores outside of China until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic. Devices left at Apple stores for repair cannot be picked up until the locations reopen.
Donation groups are asking for personal protective equipment (PPE) that will be sent to health care workers facing shortages of supplies in the fight against COVID-19. E-scrap processor Sunnking recently donated N95 masks to health care workers in New York.
Sims Lifecycle Services’ parent company issued a statement on business conditions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. PIRG published a report examining barriers to greater smartphone repairability.
Apple published information about how consumers can get their devices repaired while the company’s stores are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Canadian government ratified the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the last of the three countries to officially approve the free-trade agreement.
The Egyptian Ministry of Environment will launch an e-scrap recycling app.
Greentec became an approved processor of mercury-bearing bulbs and tubes for the Take Back the Light program, managed by the Recycling Council of Ontario.
Used electronics marketplace Refurbed raised $17 million in funding.
Used device marketplace Back Market launched an Android widget that helps consumers reduce carbon dioxide emissions while charging devices.
ERI Executive Chairman John Shegerian will host a weekly podcast titled “IMPACT! with John Shegerian.”
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) approved a policy on extended producer responsibility (EPR) at the group’s winter board meeting in Nashville, Tenn. ISRI also passed its 2020 advocacy agenda.
Machinex is celebrating 50 years in the equipment manufacturing business.
MSS developed an optical sorter geared toward sorting shredded flat-panel displays.
S3 Recycling Solutions named Rick Dukes as the company’s director of operations. Dukes formerly worked as account executive and operations manager at Sims Lifecycle Services.
Electronics brand Sonos will stop requiring customers to render their used devices inoperable when they use the company’s trade-up program. Sonos previously faced criticism for the policy.
Vecoplan hired Kirsti Nelson to head the company’s marketing department and Mike Wilhoit to lead its after-market department.
Industrial Magnetics announced that the company saw record deliveries of its products in 2019.
RecycleForce named Dustin Jones as the company’s chief operating officer.
ITAD provider ServerMonkey appointed Bashar Hindi as CEO.
Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI) announced Rick Goss has been elected chair of the organization’s board of directors.
Green Vision Inc., a nonprofit e-scrap firm in Randolph, N.J., will work with a local healthcare provider to recycle devices from clinical engineering departments.
ITAD firm SMR Worldwide rebranded and changed its name to Sprout.
Tomra Sorting Recycling published an e-book about artificial intelligence and its implications for the recycling industry.
The WEEE Forum, an association of stewardship groups, will hold an international conference on May 27-28 in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Advanced Technology Recycling (ATR) relocated its Hoover, Ala. location to a larger facility in Birmingham, Ala.
Cobalt joined The Electronics Reuse & Recycling Alliance (TERRA) and its mail-in recycling program, Done with IT.
The Digital Right to Repair Act in Massachusetts passed out of committee in the legislature with a favorable report.
Atlanta electronics repair firm ScreenFixing will open a second location in Decatur, Ga.
Apple began offering a service allowing customers to get iPhone repair service at home, and the company is using at least one repair firm in its Apple-authorized service provider program.
Online resale marketplace Back Market is working on a sustainable jewelry project that is sourcing precious metals from e-scrap with help from Closing the Loop.
EnviroLeach received its second patent on a proprietary hydrometallurgical processing technology.
Hyla Mobile wrote about trade-in trends throughout 2019, noting that customers received higher values for returned devices and that the average age of traded-in devices increased.
Industrial Magnetics, Inc. will construct a 6,000-square-foot facility to help customers choose magnetic separation products by running samples of their product stream in a test environment.
AMP Robotics, a company that has applied its robotic sorting technology to shredded e-scrap, was named a Rising Star Company of the Year by Cleantech Group.
Doe Run, which operates a lead smelter in Missouri that takes in CRT glass, promoted Anthony Staley to vice president and general manager of the metals division.
Wisetek will extend its e-Stewards certification to the company’s facilities in the U.K., Ireland and Thailand.
Far West Metals of Tualatin, Ore. joined The Electronics Reuse & Recycling Alliance (TERRA) and its mail-in recycling program, Done with IT.
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) announced that longtime ISRI employee Mark Reiter passed away on Jan. 15, and former ISRI chair Jerry Simms passed away on Jan. 17. ISRI created tribute pages for both Reiter and Simms.
Verizon announced a goal to recycle 5 million pounds of e-scrap by 2022, among other sustainability initiatives.
The Arkansas House of Representatives wrote about a subcommittee’s recent focus on electronics recycling collection improvements.
Canadian electric utility BC Hydro published its findings that 77% of British Columbia residents hold onto old electronics. The report noted that older model TVs, in particular, use high amounts of standby power.
The Center for Environmentally Responsible Materials Recycling, a nonprofit organization looking to research e-scrap and other materials recovery streams, named James Dignan as its president.
Hyla Mobile President and CEO Biju Nair wrote about the importance of reusing and recycling mobile devices for the World Economic Forum.
Call2Recycle became the exclusive U.S. distributor for CellBlock Fire Containment Systems, which manufactures battery protection products.
Corporate eWaste Solutions of Brea, Calif. joined The Electronics Reuse & Recycling Alliance (TERRA) and its mail-in recycling program, Done with IT.
HP released products and packaging made with recycled materials, including ocean plastics.
Ingram Micro entered a partnership with data center hardware and ITAD provider Procurri.
Mobile device repair and logistics company iRecycleNow.com changed its name to RELECTRO.
The U.S. EPA lauded a handful of OEMs with its annual Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Electronics Challenge Awards.
Repair hub iFixit published teardown guides for the Mac Pro 2019, giving it a 9 out of 10 for repairability, and the original Sony Playstation (which is celebrating its 25th birthday), giving it an 8 out of 10.
Industrial Services of America closed on the sale of its assets to River Metals Recycling, a deal first announced in August. Both scrap metal companies are involved in e-scrap.
Newtech Recycling of Somerset, N.J. joined The Electronics Reuse & Recycling Alliance (TERRA) and its mail-in recycling program Done with IT.
After Glencore announced the closure of its New Brunswick smelter, CRT glass processor NovoTec Recycling has signed supply contracts and received import permits to ship glass to Teck’s smelter in British Columbia and Korea Zinc’s smelter in South Korea.
Electronics buyback company Second Life Mac reports a 300% increase in the number of Apple devices it procured in 2019.
The Closed Loop Refining and Recovery CRT abandonment lawsuits were covered by Columbus, Ohio CBS station WBNS-TV, which interviewed a former Closed Loop employee, visited the former warehouses and reached company executive David Cauchi, who denied the company was running a “scheme.”
HashCash Consultants launched an initiative aiming to employ blockchain technology to track e-scrap devices through the end-of-life electronics supply chain.
Camera manufacturer Nikon will end its authorized repair program early next year, reducing the number of repair shops with official parts and tools.
Processor 4THBIN opened an office in Pittsburgh.
Advanced Technology Recycling (ATR) certified its eighth U.S. location to the R2 standard and announced it will open a ninth location, in the Midwest, in early 2020.
E-Reuse Services published a recap of its Electronics Reuse Conference, which was held Nov. 10-13 in Austin, Texas. E-Scrap News recently reported on the event.
The Global Recycling Foundation announced that Global Recycling Day will be observed on March 18, 2020.
Processor Sadoff joined Done with IT, an e-scrap mail-in service managed by The Electronics Reuse & Recycling Alliance (TERRA).
Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS) Global President Ingrid Sinclair participated in a repair- and reuse-focused workshop at the G7, a meeting of some of the world’s largest economies. SRS also announced that it has contracted with Dutch cloud computing organization SURFsara to manage IT assets.
The Verge published an article and video about e-scrap exports featuring the Basel Action Network (BAN), the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER), the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) and other industry stakeholders.
Cascade Asset Management hired Ryan Laber as vice president of business development. He most recently served as director of business development and planning at Arrow Electronics.
Curb My Clutter rebranded and is now called retrievr.
The E-Reuse Conference awarded Neil Peters-Michaud with the Jim Lynch (Hall of Fame) Award, Aakshay “Shay” Kripalani with an Innovation Award and Matt Zieminski with a Rising Star Award.
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) is accepting entries for the 2020 Design for Recycling Award.
ITAD firm Liquid Technology recycled IT assets from entertainment company Discovery and insurance brokerage NFP free of charge during America Recycles Day.
URT announced it has processed more than 1 billion pounds of e-scrap.
USB Recycling joined TERRA’s e-scrap mail-in service called Done with IT.
Financial services tech firm APT Systems wrote that its electronics recycling subsidiary, AUREX Trading and Recovery, has seen fast-growing revenue.
Dell released 2030 sustainability goals, including an objective to “recycle an equivalent product for every product a customer buys” and to have more than half of its product content “recycled or renewable material.”
Gannon & Scott was recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor with a 2019 “HIRE Vets” Gold Medallion Award for the company’s hiring of veterans and its retention practices over the past year.
Singaporean e-scrap company TES announced it will open lithium-ion battery recycling facilities in Singapore and France.
Norwegian repair shop PCKompaniet is soliciting donations for a right-to-repair court case against Apple.
The Responsible Battery Coalition and Argonne National Laboratory partnered on a research project exploring battery design for recyclability.
Sims Metal Management published its 2019 sustainability report, noting that the company recycled 400,000 metric tons of e-scrap during the 2019 fiscal year.
Environmental services companies US Ecology and NRC Group completed a merger.
The WEEE Forum announced that its second International E-Waste Day, which was held on Oct. 14, saw the participation of 112 organizations from 48 countries on six continents.