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/

R2 is a stringent set of requirements for electronics recyclers. The standard includes requirements for environmental, worker health and safety, and security practices.

“We took the R2 Certification very seriously and put strict deadlines on implementation.” said Steve Skurnac, President of Sims Recycling Solutions, Americas. “These standards are a great way for businesses and consumers to recognize that their electronics are going to an environmentally responsible recycler. We have proven the environmental, health and safety commitment of Sims through our recent accomplishment of our North American R2 certifications.”

Other than the two recently opened facilities in Mississauga, Ontario and Edison, N.J., all SRS sites in North America now hold the R2 Certification. These new facilities are targeted to be certified in the next six months.

Sims Recycling Solutions also holds certifications for ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007.

Sims Recycling Solutions (www.us.simsrecycling.com) recycles electrical and electronics from 42 sites across the globe. In North America, Sims Recycling Solutions operates 13 sites in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Ontario, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The Electronic Waste journal will periodically interview dynamic personalities, businesses and organizations making news in the electronics waste management industry. Anna Gonzales, a staff writer with the E-waste journal interviewed E-waste journal Publisher and Program Director of the International Electronics Recycling Conference & Expo, Mr Ismail Oyekan in Los Angeles, California. Here are some excerpts from the conversation:

E-waste Journal: Ismail, thank you for your time. Now moving ahead, what is the International Electronics Recycling Conference & Expo?

Ismail: The International Electronics Recycling Conference & Expo (IERCE) is an annual informative and networking event for individuals, environmental organizations or any business involved in electronics waste management. In October 2009, we held our first event in Los Angeles California and had a follow up event last year in San Francisco. More than a thousand people from over 20 nations attended both events . What’s impressive is we are just getting started. I believe this demonstrates that we are in a fast emerging industry where businesses cherish the opportunity to network, learn and display their  products and services. That is also the motivation behind the launch of our new magazine; electronic waste journal.

E-waste Journal:  What is the climate of the electronics waste management industry?

Ismail: The electronics waste management industry is a derivative of the $52 billion dollar waste industry. As we all grow more dependent on computers, cellular phones and information technology assets we will certainly generate more e-waste.  Electronic waste is now the fastest growing waste stream in developed nations and the issue of electronic waste  containing toxins and been dumped in nations where there are no facilities to process this waste stream is well documented.  More than 20 states have now introduced some form of legislature to combat e-waste. National laws are in development and more businesses are realizing the social and environmental benefits of  proper e-waste management. There are more players in this rather new industry and the industry itself is introducing new standards. Also commodities such as copper, silver and gold are rising in value which is a contributing factor to the increase in the rates of recycled electronic waste.

E-waste Journal: Is the United States behind Europe when it comes to electronics waste management?

Ismail: When you look at the technology, legislature and recycling activity, I’m afraid the answer is “yes”, the Unites States is behind. However, I believe the tide is changing and the public, business sector, government and academia are more interested in sustainability here than say 5 years ago. The “green revolution” is not a fad or a trend. More municipalities, telecom service providers and electronics manufacturers are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint & save costs. In return, OEM manufacturers are using less resources and toxins such as lead and mercury in the design of their products. More electronics manufacturers, retailers and end users are also taking responsibility for the proper disposal of their surplus, defective & end of life electronics assets. There is a growing awareness & more publicity about the environmental impacts of e-waste thanks to NGO’s like Basel Action Network and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition’s investigative reports. These are all positive trends.

E-waste Journal: Tell us about the new standards been introduced to electronics recyclers?

Ismail: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other stakeholders introduced a new standard called the R2 and a Seattle based environmental watchdog group, Basel Action Network (BAN) also recently introduced a competiting standard known as the e-stewards program. These new standards are much welcomed by the electronics recycling community, although there is a lot of misinformation and confusion about their differences. An “ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certification” is the International standard but these newly introduced standards include export guidelines, safety and continuous reviews by 3rd party auditors to ensure compliance. I believe an ISO 14001, e-stewards or R2 certification, gives a recycler tremendous credibility, saves costs and is also a huge marketing advantage over competitors. Currently less than 25% of the approximate 700 electronic collectors and recyclers participating in the California SB-20/SB-50 program have any certification. This will change because the industry is becoming more regulated and certification which is currently voluntary will obviously become a necessity in the coming months and years. Our intent is to keep our readers informed on the certification process and newest developments.

E-waste Journal: How long is the ISO certification process and what are the costs and benefits?

Ismail: The costs are quite high, but the great news is we are developing relationships with the best consultants, registrars and auditors in the Industry which will result in savings of up to 70% for any interested electronics recycler or OEM manufacturer in regards to ISO:9001 & ISO:14001.  The process will  also take less time to achieve certification and produce a significant return on investment. The leaders in this industry are ISO:14001 certified. Any business entity with ISO certification, has more credibility and therefore will earn more business from municipalities, OEM manufacturers and large enterprises. Historically, in the event of a violation, regulators will fine you less if you have a documented environmental management system(ISO:14001) in place. Most importantly, the process is designed to save costs while minimizing the environmental impacts of your recycling process. More OEM manufacturers, large businesses and municipalities are requiring recycling vendors to attain certification as part of a green supply chain and transparent downstream processing, making certification a necessity. This trend is expected to continue and will become the norm within the e-waste management industry.

E-waste Journal: What is in the works for you? When is the next International Electronics Recycling Conference & Expo (IERCE)?

Ismail: The 3rd IERCE event will be held, May 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. We are expecting more than 90 exhibitors and at least 800 participants. We will keep providing a much needed interactive platform for presentations and discussions by leaders and visionaries in this industry. Our last event had more than 40 speakers, 600 attendees and 65 exhibitors. Of course, we just launched our new publication, the electronic-waste journal which is a much needed educational and marketing platform for industry stakeholders. Thankfully, we are quite busy.

E-waste Journal: What new trends have you observed within the electronics waste management industry?

Ismail: I’ve been involved with electronics waste management in some capacity or form for the past decade. There are certainly more players now than a decade ago. The new standards are much needed and overall the industry is very receptive to certification and regulation. More electronics recyclers are investing in software and technology to improve their yields, increase worker safety and generally most electronics recyclers are making a rebound from the harsh economic climate a few years ago. Manufacturers are also taking more responsibility due to legislative requirements. More manufacturers are realizing the economic and environmental benefits in reusing what was previously considered end of life assets, so they are developing innovative take-back schemes. A great example is the wireless-handset industry. Many non-profits, schools and churches are now using e-waste collection as a unique fundraising tool. The industry is vibrant and booming and I’m extremely happy to be a witness and part of the growth.

E-waste Journal: What is the role of Government in electronics recycling?

Ismail: The Government plays a crucial role in the management of e-waste and recycling generally. Awareness and education are important as well as regulation and enforcement of recycling laws. The United States, should also reconsider signing the Basel Convention, a pledge which bans the export of electronics waste. At the same time we have to have practical laws in place that allow for the monitored exportation of valuable commodities to markets that have a strong demand for them without harming the environment.  In California, New York and a growing number of states, legislation including the cell phone recycling act and the ban on dumping electronic waste have increased recycling activities while protecting the environment.  The Obama administration should really consider introducing a nationwide ban on electronics waste dumping, like we have here in California. It saves the environment and creates thousands of green jobs.

E-waste Journal: What do you expect in the next few years?

Ismail: I expect electronics recycling rates and activities to keep rising domestically and globally. There will be more electronics waste, but hopefully there will be more electronics resellers, repair facilities and recyclers to prevent this waste stream from ending up in landfills. We also expect emerging markets & nations such as Nigeria, Pakistan, India and China to have more local recycling facilities. The United States and Europe export and dump most of our electronics waste in these nations that lack the facilities to process e-waste. In my opinion, this is the biggest challenge and opportunity for the industry. The volume of electronics waste generated internally in these developing nations are growing exponentially. They also need environmentally friendly solutions for the disposal of their retired, defective and obsolete e-waste. We also expect electronics manufacturers to design products that are more sustainable, use less toxins and are easier to recycle. It’s a work in progress, but I remain optimistic about us as an industry in reaching these goals.

]]> http://www.ewastejournal.com/an-interview-with-ismail-oyekan-founder-program-director-international-electronics-recycling-conference-expo/feed/ 7 http://www.ewastejournal.com/indiana-electronic-recyclers-must-register-with-state-by-january-1st-2010/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=indiana-electronic-recyclers-must-register-with-state-by-january-1st-2010 http://www.ewastejournal.com/indiana-electronic-recyclers-must-register-with-state-by-january-1st-2010/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:08:08 +0000 admin http://www.ewastejournal.com/?p=587 Continue reading →]]> Time is running out for Indiana’s electronic waste collectors and recyclers to enroll in a new program intended to reduce the amount of electronic waste that ends up in the state’s landfills.

Collectors and recyclers of obsolete electronics have until January  1st to enroll with the state’s E-Waste Program created by a law passed by the General Assembly this year.

The new law specifies that only collectors and recyclers enrolled in the program can work with electronics manufacturers who will soon be responsible for collecting and recycling the devices they sell in the state of Indiana.

Makers of computer monitors, laptops, and televisions must register with the state by April 1, 2010. If they fail to do so they won’t be allowed to sell their products in Indiana. This is a similar scenario with the controversial scenario in the state of New York, which is currently in litigation between the state and several electronic manufacturer trade groups.

ISuppli said promotional prices are 22 percent lower than before Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. ISuppli estimates 6 percent more TV sets will be sold during a seven-day period that began on Black Friday compared with the same period last year.

The average advertised Black Friday price for a 32-inch set was $369, down from $490 before Thanksgiving.

Prices for larger sets were down more modestly, about 7 percent. Manufacturers instead packed better features into the models that went on sale, such as faster refresh rates for a steadier picture, iSuppli said.

Big brands like Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc. and Sony Corp. offered the biggest discounts because they have had the highest regular prices, according to iSuppli analyst Tina Tseng.

ISuppli’s analysis excludes plasma TVs, another type of flat panel that’s less popular than LCD-based units.

A power outage at a Corning Inc. factory in Taiwan didn’t cause a shortage of glass for TVs as initially feared, iSuppli noted. The outage occurred in October, after manufacturers had already bought components for the sets that went on sale on Black Friday.

Paragon Green is a joint venture formed by McFarland, founder and owner of CCR, and Tom Drake, founder and CEO of 5R. Between CCR and 5R, the companies recycle an estimated 20 million pounds per year, and Paragon Green projects that it will collect and recycle more than 50 million pounds of materials in 2010.

McFarland is a visionary entrepreneur in IT asset recovery and the electronics recycling industry. She is known for being creatively passionate about diverting e-waste from curbside disposal by working to responsibly convert recoverable electronic equipment into re-marketable used products or component parts. Any equipment Paragon Green collects that does not have a resale value in the used market is safely dismantled and converted into commodities for reclaimed metals, plastic and other recyclable materials.

“With the global economic recession, IT departments are focusing on cost reduction as a leading priority in their budget planning,” McFarland said. “Reclaiming, refurbishing and remarketing IT equipment is an innovative and environmentally proactive approach for companies to offset IT budgets by converting used assets to cash.”

Paragon Green’s asset recycling program is a full circle, end-to-end market managed recycling solution that supports a zero e-waste environmental agenda.

“Paragon Green accepts all e-waste from the commercial markets, including what others consider non-value electronics, including monitors and televisions,” McFarland said. “We also do not ship unprocessed, hazardous e-scrap, such as lead-based glass found in monitors and televisions to other countries. Instead, our lead-based glass de-manufacturing solution, called glass-to-glass processing, is the only true, environmentally sound recycling process.”

In addition to e-waste, Paragon Green is a waste recycling resource for a broad range of goods including fluorescent lights, cardboard, plastic, rubber, and hazardous materials such as lead acid batteries. Paragon Green also takes an active role with schools and community governments by participating in collection events and pilot programs that encourage the community to recycle.

Paragon Green serves medium-sized companies and large corporations within the healthcare, education, government, hospitality, solid waste, e-waste and asset recovery industries, as well as school districts, government entities and solid waste agencies. It operates four plants with nine locations in six states, totaling 300,000 square feet of space, located in Michigan, Illinois, Georgia, Wisconsin and Tennessee.

Winners in the state’s Waste Reduction Awards Program ranged from tech giants Hewlett-Packard Co, Intel Corp and NEC Electronics America Inc. Hewlett-Packard’s Roseville campus  now diverts 91 percent of its waste material, from recycling cardboard and paper products to reusing bubble wrap. NEC’s manufacturing plant, also in Roseville, last year diverted 82 percent of its solid waste, raising $430,625 in recycling revenue for the company.

Driven by aggressive state mandates, recycling has become a major industry in California. The sector employs 85,000 and produces $10 billion in goods and services annually, according to the waste board.

To make the list of recycling honorees, a company must demonstrate an annual improvement in its waste-reduction practices, according to Beatriz Sandoval, a spokeswoman for the Integrated Waste Management Board.

The agency has been publishing the list since 1993. Because of the breadth of industries represented, there are no set standards for qualifying, Sandoval said. Nearly every company submitting documentation to the agency wins an award.

Nokia’s suit comes as the LCD industry begins to emerge from a long downturn that had led to weak panel prices. LCDs are used in screens for mobile phones, personal computers and televisions.

The Finnish mobile handset giant alleges in the complaint—filed Nov. 25 with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco—that the companies raised “the price of LCDs above the price that would have prevailed in a competitive market” from at least Jan. 1, 1996 through Dec. 11, 2006.

Nokia said it purchased LCDs from the companies and then incorporated them into its mobile wireless handsets.

Three of the LCD makers accused in the suit said Tuesday they hadn’t received any documents from the U.S. court, three others said they were looking into the matter, two declined to comment and the rest couldn’t be reached for comment.

Nokia spokesman Mark Durrant said his company also filed related complaints in the U.K., against makers of LCDs and cathode ray tubes, which are used in older televisions.

Nokia believes it has a strong position in the case because there is no doubt that price fixing has been going on, Mr. Durrant said, though he declined to say how much money could be involved.

Mr. Durrant said it could take a few years to reach a settlement in court, but added that his company is interested in discussing compensation outside of the court system.

Analysts said legal battles take a while to settle so the suit won’t likely have an immediate impact on the LCD makers, though they said the companies may need to set aside provisions from their earnings in the longer term.

The complaint against the group of companies—which includes AU Optronics Corp., Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co., Sharp Corp. and LG Display Co.—is the latest in a string of accusations of price fixing in the LCD industry.

AT&T Corp. alleged in a suit filed in October in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that AU Optronics, LG Display, Samsung Electronics and other LCD makers were involved in a “long-running conspiracy” from January 1996 to December 2006 to fix prices of LCD panels.

That complaint, filed by AT&T and its BellSouth and Pacific Bell units, Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. and others, alleged the LCD makers formed an international cartel to illegally restrict competition in the U.S. for LCD panels.

Nokia’s complaint also comes about a year after the U.S. Justice Department fined several LCD makers for price fixing.

Sharp, Chunghwa and LG Display agreed in November 2008 to plead guilty to the U.S. charges of price fixing in the LCD market from as early as April 2001 to December 2006. The companies paid $585 million in criminal fines.

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest LCD maker, wasn’t cited in the Justice Department’s decision but it cooperated with U.S. investigators in the probe, people close to the case said. The probe into the LCD industry became public in 2006.

The European Commission in May 2009 sent formal charges to a number of companies supplying LCDs on suspicion that they have operated a cartel. The commission didn’t name the companies at the time but in July, Philips Electronics N.V. confirmed it received cartel charges from the European Commission alleging price fixing.

Other companies named in Nokia’s suit include Philips Electronics, Tatung Co., Seiko EpsonCorp., Samsung SDI Co., Hitachi Displays Ltd. and Toshiba Corp.

Hitachi Displays agreed in March to plead guilty to the U.S. Justice Department’s price-fixing charges and paid a $31 million fine. Hitachi isn’t a defendant in the AT&T case.

“Nokia suffered damages as a result…and is entitled to treble damages and injunctive relief to remedy these injuries,” Nokia said in its complaint.

Chunghwa Picture Tubes deputy spokesman Wilbur Chien said Tuesday his company hasn’t received any court documents and declined to comment further on the Nokia case. Freda Lee, a spokeswoman for AU Optronics, also said the company hasn’t received any court documents from the U.S.

A Tatung investor relations official also said the company hasn’t received any official documents from the court.

Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori declined to comment. Samsung Electronics also declined to comment.

Officials at Seiko Epson, Samsung SDI and LG Display said they were looking into the matter, while officials at Sharp, Hitachi, and Philips, weren’t immediately available for comment.

Sheila Davis is the Executive Director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) based in Northern California. Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition is a diverse organization engaged in research, advocacy and grassroots organizing to promote human health and environmental justice in response to the rapid growth of the high-tech industry. In this Webinar, Sheila shares her organizations discoveries after visiting Taiwan, India, Germany and a host of other countries.  VIDEO COMING SOON! Click Sheila’s picture for the audio.

Without recycling facilities that can handle the loads of e-waste that need to be processed, Priti Mahesh, senior programme officer with New Delhi-based Toxic Link, says that 97% of the waste gets recycled in hazardous conditions, where workers are exposed to toxins like barium, cadmium, copper and lead.

The scale of the problem is getting government attention, with a draft of a law intending to curb the imports of e-waste and regulate recycling in the works and ready in about 6 months. However, it points to the bigger picture of too many new and unnecessary gadgets pouring into the market place, and too many old but perfectly usable gadgets pouring into dumps and recycling facilities.

Again, while percentages are unclear, “most of the waste from abroad came in the form of charity donations of old technology that finds its way to dumps or imports from countries like the United States, [Mahesh] said.”

As countries like India suffering the brunt of e-waste imports get tougher on importation legislation, organizations like Basel Action Network  & ToxicsLink will have to do a tougher job as environmental watchdog groups, since more companies collecting gadgets for recycling will be tempted to unload them onto overburdened, under-protected e-waste dumps.