Kenya’s Port of Mombasa will no longer be a destination for used electronics exports next year. | Ungureanu Catalina Oana / Shutterstock.com
News reports indicate the East African country of Kenya will ban imports of used electronics starting in 2020.
A computer tower with a tracking device provided by the Green Tracking Service (device at lower right).
Green Tracking Service is making several changes to its GPS monitoring products, including new tracker models and more data being reported to users.
In May, the New York Federal Reserve Bank estimated tariffs in effect at that time would cost the average U.S. household $831 a year. | aijiro/Shutterstock
The escalating trade war between the U.S. and China is creating uncertainty among small businesses and exacerbating a global manufacturing slowdown, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The bill’s sponsors have said the proposal would help to grow the domestic recycling industry. | Rolf 52/Shutterstock
Legislation limiting e-scrap exports has now been introduced in both federal legislative chambers, and in both cases the bills have bipartisan sponsorship.
India was the second largest importer of U.S. scrap plastic during the first six months of 2019. | Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock
Recovered plastic, including material from end-of-life electronics, has largely stopped flowing from the U.S. into India, which until recently has been among the top importers of scrap plastics.
The rulemaking would have allowed exports of tested and working devices. | Alexey Lesik/Shutterstock
The U.S. Department of Commerce has decided not to pursue regulations restricting some e-scrap exports, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).
Regulatory changes could prevent the U.S. from exporting e-plastics to a number of countries. | rawf8/Shutterstock
Federal regulators are asking countries that are major buyers of U.S. scrap plastic to refrain from implementing new trade restrictions laid out in the Basel Convention, a treaty covering global scrap material shipments.
The move this month by 187 governments to alter a global waste treaty will mean further uncertainty for U.S. scrap plastic exports.
A handful of electronics recycling stakeholders weighed in on a federal proposal to ban certain e-scrap exports and require stringent tracking for others. Their comments were published this week.
The U.S. recycling industry, including the e-scrap recycling sector, is expected to feel the economic repercussions of the escalating U.S.-China trade war.