Tablets’ impact on the e-waste recycling stream

Posted on July 14, 2011 by admin

Commentary by Amanda Smith-Teutsch | Electronic Waste Journal

8.5 million.

That’s the number of iPad sales some analysts expect Apple to report selling during the third quarter 2011 next week during conference calls reporting quarterly financial results. That’s not results for the entire year – that’s just the third quarter. While Apple is one of the larger players in the newly developing tablet market, they are by no means the only brand out there.

Take into consideration all of the other products on the market - HP’s new TouchPad, Toshiba’s Thrive, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, high-end and entry-level products from Asus, products from Research in Motion, HTC, Dell, ACER and other manufacturers. All of these tablets – and the world’s insatiable appetite for the gadgets – are creating an ever-growing addition to the e-waste stream, already the fastest growing segment of the world’s waste.

Already the tablets have been appearing in the recycling stream – Sims Recycling Solutions reported its first unit in its recycling stream appeared in October 2010, five months after the device was introduced . As these devices age and are replaced, more will work their way through to the recycling infrastructure.

It’s a device that seemingly arose out of nowhere and burst onto the consumer stage as the must-have gadget overnight. With such a meteoric rise, it’s important to make sure tablets are included into recycling programs at the end of life.

In many jurisdictions with e-recycling laws, tablet computers were added into the same category as laptops or with other video display devices. Other areas, including more than two dozen U.S. states, don’t have laws governing the disposal of the televisions, computers, monitors, laptops or tablets – into the landfill with all of it.

Even at the end of life, these tablets and devices are too valuable from recycling standpoint to landfill and lose forever. Hopefully policy comes into place to capture these valuable devices before they’re thrown into the trash.

A shredder at e-Scrap Destruction in Islandia, N.Y.; photo from Greenlanches.com http://www.greenlaunches.com/other-stuff/escrap-recycles-ewaste-to-reduce-the-burden-on-landfills.php

photo credit : from Greenlanches.com and Sims Recycling Solutions

Samsung Expects To Sell 200 Million Handsets In 2009. Company Has Sold 40 million Touchscreen Devices In 2009, Compared With 10 million A Year Ago.

Posted on December 2, 2009 by admin

Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 2 mobile phone maker, gave an upbeat forecast for 2009 mobile phone sales due to sharp growth in touchscreen models, but surging sales may not guarantee higher margins.

Growing competition for market share could put Samsung under pressure to lower prices in the high-margin touchscreen phones, with iPhone‘s debut in the domestic market last week set to challenge Samsung and home-town rival LG Electronics.

“Touch phones taking a bigger portion of handset sales will not likely have a significant impact on profitability because makers eventually have to cut prices to appeal to the wider public,” said Hanwha Securities analyst Seo Do-won.

“What we have to set sight on is the smartphone market, in which Samsung is still weaker than Apple, RIM and Nokia (NOK1V.HE). Samsung has strengths in high-function and hardware sides, but is weak in software and services compared with rivals,” Seo said.

Samsung, which trails Finland’s Nokia, said on Monday it was on track to exceed its 2009 mobile phone sales target, with touchscreen models enjoying sharp growth.

It had previously said it aimed to sell more than 200 million phones this year, after selling slightly less than that figure in 2008.

The blockbuster iPhone of Apple made its debut in South Korea recently after local regulators cleared the final hurdle for its sales in a market that is home to 47 million mobile phone users.

With established strength in premium and feature phones, Samsung and LG have recently boosted their smartphone line-ups to compete with Apple and Blackberry maker Research In Motion

Samsung said its global market share in handsets rose over 20 percent for the first time in the third quarter, with its telecom unit posting a profit margin of 10 percent in the third quarter, unchanged from the second quarter.

Research firm Gartner said this month global mobile phone salesthis year would be roughly on par with 2008 and grow 5-8 percent next year.

Samsung said in a statement handsets adopting full touchscreens would account for about 20 percent of its mobile phone sales this year. In 2008, such phones made up only 5 percent of Samsung’s total sales.

Samsung had sold around 40 million full touchscreen devices between January and November this year, compared with 10 million in 2008.

Feature-packed premium phones and smartphones with intuitive user interfaces have prompted a boom in touchscreen models that allow users to manipulate cellphones more easily.

“Samsung will continue to expand the global full touch phone market by introducing phones tailored to individual regions and user requirement with stylish designs, intuitive UIs and cutting edge features,” JK Shin, head of Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Division, said in the statement.

Samsung Mobile Display, Samsung Electronics’ mobile screen venture, expects touchscreens to be adopted by about 50 percent of major portable devices — mobile phones, digital cameras, navigations and digital media players – sold in 2013.

By afternoon, shares of Samsung, also the world’s largest maker of memory chips and flat screen televisions, were up 2.3 percent, in line with the broader market’s 2.5 percent gain.

California Integrated Waste Management Board Honors 250 Businesses That Reduce Waste Sent To Landfills

Posted on December 1, 2009 by admin

The California Integrated Waste Management Board on Monday honored more than 250 businesses and nonprofit organizations for efforts to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills.

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.

Panasonic, Sharp & Toshiba Establish Recycling Company

Posted on November 16, 2009 by admin

Panasonic Corporation of North America, Sharp Electronics Corporation and Toshiba America Consumer Products have established a new electronic product recycling management company, Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Company, LLC that will provide a recycling service to electronics manufacturers and others, including state and local governments.

The new company’s first activities are focused on providing services to manufacturers who must satisfy the recently enacted requirements in Minnesota for the recycling of used electronic products.

MRM has already entered into collection and recycling agreements with Hitachi Electronics, JVC, Mitsubishi, Philips, Pioneer, Sanyo and Olevia brand maker Syntax-Brillian.

In addition to planning or recycling programs in several states from late 2008 or 2009, including Connecticut, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Washington, MRM is also positioned to offer recycling services as needed in other states or on a national scale.

In the first five months since Minnesota’s new electronic recycling law took effect, MRM collected approximately 750 tons of used products, according to Minnesota Pollution Control AgencyCommissioner Brad Moore.