“This is a significant milestone for our company. Many of our customers and partners have been looking for assurance from e-recyclers such as ECS that we have the highest standards and processes available in the world,” said Jim Taggart, Chief Executive Officer, ECS Refining. “We had been an e-Stewards Founder since the program’s inception, but we weren’t going to be satisfied until we secured the most relevant industry standard by becoming ‘e-Stewards Certified.’ In addition, we are continuing audits with our other regional processing facilities to provide a fully certified, national solution for our clients.”

The e-Stewards Certification was developed by a group of electronics recyclers, environmentalists, industry leaders and health and safety and technical experts working with the Basel Action Network (BAN), a non-governmental organization focused on stopping  e-waste exports. The e-Stewards Certification program, created by BAN, formally recognizes electronics recyclers that adhere to environmentally and socially responsible practices when recovering hazardous electronic materials.

“This designation is extremely meaningful to our customers and prospects. They can be assured that our recycled materials are processed correctly, safely and not sent overseas. Some of our competitors can’t make that claim,” said Mark Robards, Vice President of Sales, ECS Refining. “This certification publicly va lidates and extends our 30 year policy of being a conscientious e-recycling company which our partners, customers and consumers can trust.”

Companies pursuing e-Stewards Certification undergo audits to ensure they comply with the e-Stewards Standard and have a registered ISO 14001:2004 environmental management system in place.

“We’re proud to announce that ECS Refining Texas has received e-Stewards Certification. This is no small feat,” said Jim Puckett, Executive Director of BAN. “ECS’s addition to our network of responsible recyclers is particularly important since they have processes that not only serve generators of e-waste but also the electronics recycling industry. Having them as a qualified processor for other recyclers seeking responsible domestic recycling moves our mission of accountable recycling forward.”

Product Stewardship Australia is making the change from a lobbying group to a stewardship organization, a technology website reports.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse was invited to write a guest post on the website for the President’s Council on Environmental Quality. Hesse wrote about the Obama Administration’s national e-waste recycling initiative, announced July 20.

“On July 20 the EPA invited Sprint, along with Dell and Sony, to Austin, Texas to be among the first corporations to publicly commit to follow a new national e-waste strategy. We were honored to join EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, General Services Administrator Martha Johnson, and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley as they issued the National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship.

“The collaborative work of the EPA, General Services Administration (GSA), Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the dozen additional agencies represented on the e-waste task force that developed the National Strategy over the past eight months is an example to all who manufacture and distribute electronic products. Sprint commends the Federal Government’s commitment to ensure that all electronics it uses are reused or recycled at a certified recycler. An e-waste solution will require on-going collaboration, shared commitment, accountability and meaningful action from companies in all sectors. I am proud that Sprint – along with Dell and Sony – has implemented sustainable business practices early on.”

Hesse described the company’s commitment to e-waste recycling in the blog post.

Sprint’s Electronics Stewardship Policy sets aggressive e-waste goals, including the collection of nine phones for reuse or recycling for every 10 sold by 2017. To date, Sprint has collected more than 25 million mobile phones— keeping them out of landfills, helping to conserve resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and preventing air and water pollution.

For the second year, Sprint received the Sustainability Leadership Award from the International Electronics Recycling Conference for our full-lifecycle product approach. On the design end, we have more environmentally-friendly devices and accessories than any other carrier. We recently launched our fourth green device and first eco-friendly Android phone – the new Samsung Replenish. It’s made with 82 percent recyclable materials, and is the first phone in the U.S. with a solar battery cover.  And it’s the first mobile device to receive UL Environment’s Platinum certification.

At the other end of the lifecycle, Sprint’s industry-first Electronics Stewardship Policy gave us the opportunity to work with environmental organizations like BSR, Basel Action Network and ABI Research to develop goals. The new national e-waste policy will enhance progress in the area of sustainable electronics management. Sprint’s commitment to the new national strategy will boost our goals in several areas including greater transparency in our operations.

Sprint is honored to be among the first companies to sign the new sustainable electronics management policy and to make our commitment public.

Photo by EMPA. Supplied by UNU

SGS, a global inspection, verification, testing and certification company, is promoting its services to help ensure compliance with India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests new “E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011.”

The new rules go into effect May 2012. The company said the new Indian regulations bear a “considerable similarity” with the EU’s WEEE and RoHS legislation for producers and dismantlers of electrical and electronic equipment.

The new law will apply to all those in the supply and usage chains, from producers to dismantlers of electrical and electronic equipment, the company said, and includes an Extended Producers’ Responsibility mandate for recycling, for reducing levels of hazardous substances in electronics and setting up collection centers. It is understood that this legislation is being promoted by Non Governmental Organizations and a few manufacturers who already have “green policies” that restrict most of the substances mentioned.

“As the law takes effect, the e-waste rules will require manufacturers and importers to supply only “RoHS compliant” products provide written evidence of compliance, and include details about the restricted substances in the product information booklet. Such reduction in use of hazardous substances in manufactured or imported electrical and electronic equipment shall be achieved within two years from the date of the act’s commencement. SGS is the market leader in RoHS testing and can provide a global compliance program covering the whole supply chain,” the company said.

For more information, visit the company’s website at http://www.ee.sgs.com/global-rohs-services.htm or contact:

SGS Consumer Testing Services
Asish Chakraborty
Manager-Technical (Multilabs)

SGS India Private Limited
15 C Hemanta Basu Sarani, 3rd & 4th Floors,
LMJ Chambers, Kolkata, 700 001, India

t: +91 33 662 66 100 -104 (B)
f: +91 33 224 20 745, 224 81 745
Email: cts.media@sgs.com

Halfway through 2011, totals from collection sites and events amounted to 12.2 million pounds of e-waste collected for recycling, up from last year’s mid-year collection total of 11.9 million pounds for recycling, reports OregonLive.com.

Reuse is also growing, the program reported – nearly 18,000 TV, computer and monitor units have been diverted for reuse so far this year.

E-waste recycling in Oregon became obligatory in 2009 after the passage of producer responsibility laws in the state.

Each year, collection goals of 19 million pounds and 21.5 million pounds have been surpassed, the website reported. The program is on track to meet its 2011 collection goal of 22.95 million pounds.

For more information on electronic recycling in Oregon,  Oregon E-Cycles, visit www.oregonecycles.org or call 1-888-532-9253.

Once operational the plant is hoped to provide revenues in excess of euro 6,000,000 ($8,400,000 U.S.) per year of operation. All raw materials will be sold to local entities for further processing. The plant will be locally funded and initial funds are available to start the project, the company said.

The JV will be 51% owned by Garb and 49% by a group already present in the provincial waste recycling business. The company will then build, own and operate a 25,000 metric ton E-Waste plant. The estimated cost of the project including land, building and plant is expected to be approx. $25 million USD and is scheduled to be completed by September 2012. Funding for the E-Waste Plant will come through the engagement of a local bank and will be guaranteed by an insurance bond.

Garb Oil & Power Corporation supplies plants for Rubber Recycling, E-Waste and E-Scrap Recycling, Waste to Energy and OTR processing plants. For more information visit http://www.garbop.com/

The company, through its recycling subsidiary WM Recycle America LLC, acquired Access Computer Products, Inc. and Mordell LLC. Access Computer Products provides cell phone, ink and toner cartridge, and consumer electronics reverse logistics, remarketing, and recycling services. Mordell, LLC, a re-commerce partner responsible for refurbishing and selling used computer equipment obtained through Access and other third party suppliers, was also acquired by WM Recycle America. Both are based in Loveland, Colo.

“Waste Management is committed to providing solutions to our customers for managing their electronic waste,” said Pat DeRueda, president of WM Recycle America. “This acquisition will expand Waste Management’s presence in the growing electronics recycling and re-commerce market and provide an additional high value service to our customers. Waste Management is committed to maximizing the value of the components in electronic materials as well as other materials it manages.”

The company has a partnership with Cartridge World to recycle ink cartridges, announced in May 2011.

This acquisition contributes to Waste Management’s sustainability goal of tripling the amount of material it recycles to 20 million tons by 2020.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the largest provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is also the largest residential recycler and a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. For more information visit http://www.wm.com/.

In a study released last week, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries reports the total scrap recycling industry – including metals, glass, fibers, plastics, and paper, amongst other materials – contributes $90.6 billion to the U.S. economy each year.

Electronics recycling is a small, but growing, part of this impact. The same trade organization, earlier this year, released the initial results of a study on U.S. e-waste recycling and found the industry has already grown from less than $1 billion in 2002 to $5 billion in 2010 in the country. At its conference in May, ISRI said the industry could grow to $8 or $10 billion in the coming years.

What is needed to make sure the electronics recycling industry continues on this path of growth? A positive legislative environment is one step in that direction. Since 2002, 25 states have passed some form of electronics recycling mandate, banning electronics from landfills and usually holding manufacturers responsible for funding their recycling.

A recently announced federal initiative hopes to voluntarily increase electronics recycling. But such voluntary efforts don’t often have the same impact as jurisdictions where the force of law dictates electronics’ end-of-life management. The increasing number of states with electronics recycling mandates is likely one of the driving forces behind this growth, along with public interest and voluntary manufacturer environmental responsibilities.

The U.S. EPA estimates that in 2009, of the 2.5 million short tons of e-waste generated in the country, about 25 percent was recycled.

That’s criminal.

That means that in 2009, the U.S. electronics recycling industry didn’t have access to 1,875,000 short tons of electronics, which instead now sit languishing in landfills, where the valuable commodities of aluminum, copper, plastics, and precious metals are lost forever.

In 8 years, the electronics recycling industry has grown from providing 6,000 full time jobs in the U.S. to 30,000. Imagine the economic impact if e-waste recycling was incentivized throughout the entire U.S., and not just half of it.

Official government photos of e-waste announcement at Round2 in Austin.

The fact sheets are downloadable and printable PDF files, located at www.isri.org/factsheets.

“The scrap recycling industry is not only growing in size, but is continuing to play a more and more important role in job creation, helping level the U.S. trade balance, and strengthening the economy as a whole,” said ISRI President Robin Wiener.  “Despite this, many misconceptions about the industry continue to linger. ISRI is a clearinghouse of information about our industry, our members and how what they do is having a positive impact in local communities and around the world.”

In the U.S., the trade industry reported, the electronics recycling industry has grown from less than $1 billion in 2002 to more than $5 billion annually. The industry now employs more than 30,000 full time employees, up from 6,000 in 2002.

Last year, the U.S. electronics recycling industry processed 3 million to 4 million tons of used and end-of-life electronics equipment. More than 70 percent of the collected equipment is manufactured into specification grade commodities — including steel, aluminum, copper, lead, circuit boards, plastics and glass. Commodities are then sold around the U.S. and the world.

Equipment collected from businesses and commercial interested comprises up to 75% of the market, ISRI said, and the U.S. industry has plenty of room to grow – the trade organization estimates U.S. recyclers are currently operating at about 50% of their operational capabilities.

For more on the fact sheets, visit www.isri.org/factsheet

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