ISRI 2016 Convention: Recontextualizing electronics recycling
ISRI 2016 Convention: Recontextualizing electronics recycling
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Declining commodity prices have hit the electronics recycling industry hard, said Jim Levine, president of Regency Technologies, Cleveland, and chairman of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) Electronics Division, in his introduction to the “Spotlight on Electronics” session at the ISRI 2016 Convention & Exposition, April 2-7 in Las Vegas. The session featured Adam Minter, author of the book Junkyard Planet and a Bloomberg View contributor.
Levine said that in light of these depressed commodity prices, many electronics recycling companies have expanded into the service sector of the industry, referring to the addition of information technology asset disposition (ITAD) services, including component harvesting and resale. Levine said some companies have achieved this transition by forming strategic partnerships.
Minter said the U.S. industry is beginning to see that dismantling, parts harvesting and reuse are critical to the ongoing viability of the electronics recycling industry, pointing out that this has long been the case in other areas of the world.
“The center did not hold,” he said, referring to the current state of the electronics recycling industry. “E-scrap’s future is all over the place.”
Minter, who lives in Malaysia presently but also has resided in China, said little is reported in Western media about China’s e-scrap industry. He said the country is the world’s largest generator of this material, according to the Chinese government. According to China’s Ministry of the Environmental Protection (MEP), the country generated 200 million pounds of e-scrap in 2015, Minter said. He added that 1.3 billion cellphones are turned over every 18 months in the country.
China has established a program to manage the end-of-life electronics the country’s residents generate, Minter said, adding that outside of the country China’s “e-waste program is not talked about enough.”
Under the program, 106 dismantlers are authorized to receive subsidies for their activities, he said. They are paid roughly $13 per personal computer and CRT (cathode ray tube) they handle.
However, Minter added, only one-sixth of the e-scrap generated in the country currently makes its way into this program. He credited this to the repair and resale avenues available in China, adding that the automotive recycling program in the country is a “great analog” for what happens with electronics. While 4.81 million automobiles were deregistered in China in 2014, only 2.2 million were recycled. “There is a brisk trade of used Chinese cars to Accra,” Minter said, referring to the capital of Ghana. Both whole autos and parts are in demand, he added.
When it comes to electronics, China is home to a “giant reuse market,” Minter said. Additionally, many CRTs from the country are finding new homes in rural India.
Minter referred to the work of Josh Lepawsky of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Department of Geography, which shows that by 2012, much of the trade in used electronics occurred between developing countries rather than from developed countries, such as the U.S. and Canada, to developing countries. He also cited Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and United States International Trade Commission (ITC) studies that found little trade in end-of-life electronics took place between the U.S. and developing countries.
“We need to recontextualize how we look at this industry,” Minter said, adding that the industry has “overexpanded.”
Minter said the industry in the U.S. must transition away from a commodity business. “Asia has for a long time.”
The ISRI 2016 Convention & Exposition was April 2-7 in Las Vegas.
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Source: Recycling Today
ISRI 2016 Convention: Recontextualizing electronics recycling
<![CDATA[Declining commodity prices have hit the electronics recycling industry hard, said Jim Levine, president of Regency Technologies, Cleveland, and chairman of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) Electronics Division, in his introduction to the “Spotlight on Electronics” session at the ISRI 2016 Convention & Exposition, April 2-7 in Las Vegas. The session featured Adam Minter, author of the book Junkyard Planet and a Bloomberg View contributor. Levine said that in light of these depressed commodity prices, many electronics recycling companies have expanded into the service sector of the industry, referring to the addition of information technology asset disposition (ITAD) services, including component harvesting and resale. Levine said some companies have achieved this transition by forming strategic partnerships. Minter said the U.S. industry is beginning to see that dismantling, parts harvesting and reuse are critical to the ongoing viability of the electronics recycling industry, pointing out that this has long been the case in other areas of the world. “The center did not hold,” he said, referring to the current state of the electronics recycling industry. “E-scrap’s future is all over the place.” Minter, who lives in Malaysia presently but also has resided in China, said little is reported…