California regulators are accusing e-scrap processor Metech Recycling of violating hazardous waste management laws. In separate news, the state recently settled a lamp recycling case with AERC Recycling Solutions, which also handles scrap electronics.
China supplies components for a lot of equipment used in the U.S. recycling industry, meaning tariffs on Chinese imports would be felt across many recycling sectors, according to an industry association.
A Feb. 2, 2018 drone view of a site dubbed “dioxin factory,” where imported e-scrap is processed and circuit boards and wires are burned in a smelter.
A police raid at a massive e-scrap facility in Thailand prompted Seattle-based Basel Action Network to release results of its own investigations in the Southeast Asian country.
With the U.S. e-scrap industry continuing to rely on the export market, companies are not only contending with domestic laws and certification requirements – they’re navigating a wide range of complex and unique international laws as well.
A computer tower with a tracking device provided by the Green Tracking Service (device at lower right).
A U.S. company has begun providing an e-scrap tracking service so processors and OEMs can see where their downstream vendors are sending devices. One processor is already regularly using the service.
Minnesota’s state program has released data on its first full year since legislation significantly altered the program. Although manufacturer recycling obligations are up, the volume of material recycled has fallen.
Three companies have changed language in their product warranties that discouraged independent repairs after regulators said they may be running afoul of federal law.
The processing line at Proambi’s facility in Mexico, photo courtesy of Salvador Río
Mexico may be America’s neighbor to the south, but in some ways, the e-scrap ecosystems in the two nations are worlds apart. And perhaps the biggest difference is the fact that in Mexico, an informal system of electronics collection and processing is well-established.
The U.S. EPA solid waste chief during the Obama Administration is now helping to push forward circular economy principles, and some of his work could help reshape electronics recovery in developing areas of the world.
Shuttered CRT processor Nulife Glass continues to wade through a lengthy and costly cleanup of its East Coast operations.