Copper, a key non-ferrous metal recovered from scrap electronics, has generally been climbing in value since March 2020. | kilukilu/Shutterstock
After reaching an eight-year record last year, the price of copper has continued to increase, reaching its highest level in nearly a decade.
Sims’ drive into the cloud was slowed by the coronavirus pandemic last year. | Maximumm/Shutterstock
Sims Lifecycle Services enjoyed a year-over-year profit boost in the latter half of 2020, although COVID-19 slowed the company’s push to recycle materials associated with cloud computing.
Silver is a key metal for e-scrap recovery firms. | Arkadiusz Komski/Shutterstock
Silver prices increased sharply over the past week, and financial analysts anticipate they will remain elevated in the near future.
With fewer available drivers comes less available trucking supply, leading to higher prices and potential disruptions in trucking availability for those in the recycling industry. | Vitpho/Shutterstock
A driver shortage that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to create challenges for moving used electronics and other recovered materials this year, analysts say.
Plastic Recycling, Inc. is the latest company to open North American capacity for e-plastics. | Courtesy of PRI
Indianapolis-based Plastic Recycling, Inc. has expanded with a project that underscores the opportunities and complexities in recycling plastics from scrap electronics.
Ingram Micro’s new ITAD operation in Mexico was built inside of a 120,000-square-foot distribution warehouse. | Courtesy of Ingram Micro.
Many companies in the ITAD sector are searching for the best way to expand into international markets. For Ingram Micro, the playbook is clear: Follow the flow of new hardware.
With a capacity of 6,000 pounds per hour, URT’s system was designed to handle the amount of shredded e-plastic generated in URT’s Janesville, Wis. plant on a single shift. | Courtesy of URT.
URT has installed equipment at its Wisconsin headquarters allowing the company to produce clean e-plastic fractions for sale to domestic buyers.
Some analysts predict copper prices will increase close to their 2011 record, when the metal was trading for more than $4.50 per pound. | Syafiq Adnan/Shutterstock
Prices for a major metal found in the electronics recycling stream have climbed high in recent weeks, largely driven by China’s economic recovery following its COVID-19 lockdown.
The e-scrap metals market saw a significant impact from the coronavirus pandemic, which made obtaining supply a challenging task. | Amy_VonDe/Shutterstock
Processors were not alone in feeling supply and demand impacts from COVID-19. Their downstream partners were in a similar boat, as three smelting and refining experts explained during a presentation last week.
The coronavirus pandemic has reduced the volume of incoming assets for some ITAD companies, but it has also opened new opportunities for fee-based services. | Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock