Homeboy Electronics Recycling in Los Angeles is one of many industry companies that’s struggled to fill staff positions. | Courtesy of Homeboy Electronics Recycling
After COVID-19 struck, Integrated Recycling Technologies (IRT) found itself entering an unexpected business: daycare.
Clockwise from upper left: Craig Boswell of HOBI International, Adina Renee Adler of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Russ Ernst of Blancco and Walter Alcorn of the Consumer Technology Association.
Pandemic-spurred spending might mean more electronics entering the recycling stream, but any boost may prove a temporary exception to a long-term downward trend, one expert said during a recent presentation.
From January through March of this year, U.S. companies exported 120 million pounds of mixed plastics. | Rich Lonardo / Shutterstock
U.S. shipments of mixed plastic, a category that includes plastics recovered from electronic devices, jumped in the first quarter. Nearly two-thirds of the plastic went to Canada.
Echo Consolidated Holdings Group saw divergent trends in the resale and recycling sectors in early 2021. | thodonal88 / Shutterstock
Over the first several months of this year, the device-resale business was lucrative for a Dallas-area group of electronics processors. End-of-life recycling is a different story.
Industry analysts recently offered their insights on copper markets.| Flegere / Shutterstock
The historically high prices for copper could elevate even higher in coming years because of strong demand for manufacturing, according to analysts.
An analyst says that consumers are becoming more willing to buy used electronics. | Filippo Carlot / Shutterstock
A consultant who helps develop consumer electronics trade-in programs says the computer chip crunch is helping to fuel secondary device markets.
A number of metals are trending down after record and near-record pricing in recent months. | BEST BACKGROUNDS/Shutterstock
Copper and other battery inputs have fallen in price over the last month, a shift tied to China’s COVID-19 recovery.
An industry insider wrote that 4G devices will retain their value in the near future, allowing carriers to offload devices into secondary markets. | Dmitry Demidovich / Shutterstock
A mobile expert at Assurant says technology developments to boost cellular connectivity will help drive turnover of devices.
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.