Draft European regulations propose that mobile devices should include scratch resistance, protection from dust and water, resistance to accidental drops, battery longevity and the capacity to be disassembled and repaired. | ETgohome/Shutterstock
The European Commission is requesting feedback on draft regulations for designing mobile phones and tablets to be more environmentally friendly, including the issue of recyclability.
Nokia has launched a subscription service that incentivizes people to keep their phones for longer using a range of rewards. | OleksSH/Shutterstock
Nokia is adding more recycled material to some of its devices and urging customers to use its Circular subscription service to hold on to phones longer.
Interpol researchers aimed to discover whether organized pollution crime is a global or localized phenomenon. | Poetra.RH/Shutterstock
A report from Interpol aimed to fill in gaps in knowledge on the link between pollution crime and organized crime, digging into 27 pollution crime case studies that averaged profits of $19.6 million per case for those involved, including electronics falsely labeled as ready for resale.
Closing the Loop is partnering with Vodafone Germany to scale up its collection of broken phones in African countries for recycling. | Xolodan/Shutterstock
Vodafone and Closing the Loop have partnered together with the goal of recycling one used device from a country that lacks formal recycling capacity for every phone Vodafone sells in Germany.
A research project funded by the EU will seek establish a knowledge base for recycling and other secondary sources of precious metals. | nikkytok/Shutterstock
European Union officials are embarking on research to collect more palladium, lithium and other materials from the waste stream.
The Cisco Green Pay program has been rolled out as a pilot program in several European countries. | Courtesy of Cisco
Global networking and telecommunications equipment giant Cisco launched a leasing program that manages product disposition services for customers after five years.
Wieland just acquired Totall Metal Recycling, including the yard in Granite City, Ill. shown here. | Courtesy of Wieland
A newly formed company bought a large tract of Indiana land to build an e-scrap metals refining facility, and Totall Metal Recycling was acquired by a global copper supplier.
Li-Cycle has opened a 140,000 square-foot facility in Arizona with a capacity to process 10,000 tons of materials per year. | Courtesy of Li-Cycle
Lithium-ion battery recyclers are moving forward with new facilities, with Li-Cycle bringing a plant on-line and Blue Whale Materials announcing plans for five plants in the U.S. and Europe.
Researchers suggest implementing ultimate producer responsibility policy would improve labor conditions for the thousands of people working in the informal waste management sector. | DimiSotirov/Shutterstock
More than two dozen researchers and e-scrap experts from nine countries are calling for a global extended producer responsibility system that ensures European producers take care of e-scrap after it’s exported.
Sims Lifecycle Services opened a 100,000-square-foot redeployment facility in Atlanta, as the company pushes further into the business of managing equipment from data centers. | Mikhail Starodubov
Electronics processor Sims Lifecycle Services is expanding both domestically and internationally, opening a new facility in Atlanta and adding several new shredding vehicles to its German fleet.