Transcript E-Scrap Recycling, a Guide to Vendor Selection 387K

American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
E-Scrap Recycling, a Guide to Vendor Selection
Economic, Environmental and Ethical Considerations
Robin Ingenthron
American Retroworks Inc.
Middlebury, Vermont
www.retroworks.com
An NRC Training Program sponsored by Dell Inc.
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
Session Topics:
1) Why Hold This Event?
2) What about Exports?
3) Recycling 101: Understanding your supply and your
vendor’s demand
4) Rules of Thumb for selecting recycling vendors
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
Why Hold This Event?
• World Demand for Copper, Gold, Aluminum, Lead, Plastic and Steel
expands Daily. The worst recycling is environmentally better than the
best mining.
• One day events are “a date, not a marriage”. Establish your collections
and you can leverage vendor practices, dictate higher standards.
• The longer monitors and computers are stored, the less social (digital
divide) and economic value they have
• Reuse markets for CRTs are strong today, but in 2 years they may dive.
• Residents don’t stop generating electronic waste while advocates
ponder policy.
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
1)
E-Scrap is 300% richer in copper and other metals than mined ore
2)
Recycling produces a fraction of the pollution from mining. Hard rock mining
produces 45% of all toxics produced by all USA industries.
3)
Gorilla and orangutan extinction is arguably driven by electrics metal mining.
4)
USGS – At 1990 rate of consumption, copper reserves will be exhausted this
century: Ocean mining will be the primary source of copper in our lifetimes.
5)
USA Model? 95% from federal lands, $5/acre, 14/15 largest Superfund sites
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
USA Mercury Emissions by Industry
(Rank #1-#7)
4500000
4000000
3500000
Electricity Plants
Petroleum
Cement
Waste & Haz Waste
Copper Mining
Federal Facilities
Silver Mining
#2-10 combined
GOLD MINING
3000000
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
Total On/Off-site
Hg Releases
Source: http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/tri/report/01/mercury.pdf
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
What About Exports?
It’s better to meet demand than not to. That said, sleazy exports
threaten recycling, and are worse than not recycling at all.
REALITY: If USA exports everything,
we send 1/3 reusables, 1/3 recyclables, and 1/3 Toxics Along for the Ride.
REALITY: if USA exports nothing,
we destroy reuseables (and they cannot afford new); they mine to replace the
recycled metals, and mining produces even more toxic harm than recycling.
SOLUTION: Setting a Higher Standard. USA processing, limited exports
(tested equipment, copper scrap), simple tests (like CRT Glass Test); market
development to promote best practices; (funded) state processing contracts
with restrictions and incentives; etc.
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
Q: Why should we know the basics behind international demand?
A: You’ll be asked several times a week, “Do you export this stuff?”
The Good: Repair, Reuse
The Bad: T.A.R.
The Ugly: Scrap Recycling
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
Understanding Export Forces to Asia
Reuse Forces
Recycling Forces
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.
High tolerance/demand for used
“Free” software
Cheap parts
Good, cheap tech. labor
Metal demand
Balance of Trade
Cheap labor
Cheap env. Laws
20
Giant Sucking Sound
15
Growth in Chinese demand for copper (ore and
scrap): 20% per year 1999-2002
10
5
0
1999
2000
2001
2002
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
The Good and the Ugly
Monitor Refurbishing Factory
Copper extracted by hand
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
THE BAD: Legitimate USA recyclers must be able to show where the
non-repairable lead goes.
Toxics Along For the Ride will hold
recycling back
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
Recycling 101: Understanding Basics
1) What you have
2) What the vendor does to it
3) Considerations for evaluating bids (ie demand) from multiple
recycling vendors
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
What you have
1) Pristine takeouts for auction, clean scrap
- you can deal with anyone directly
2) Junk - you should insist on domestic processing
3) “I dunno”…- you should deal with USA companies
with capacity to separate, process, market, document
This is always the one-day event
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
What the vendor does to it
$$$?
1)
Can it be reused? 5% material = 50% of income
- e.g. 17” monitor tested working, $30
$?
2) Can it be repaired? 15% material = 30% of income
- e.g. white box PCs, repairable monitors, $5 each
$
?
3)
Can it be recycled? 75% of material = 20% of income
-
?
lead, gold, copper, aluminum, steel, plastic, pennies per
pound. Does not cover labor or processing cost.
4)
Disposed (incl. contaminants)? 5% material = LOSS
- Wood debris, cable casings
•
All Income combined = 1/3 of collection and operating cost
As the dollars get smaller, the volume gets bigger…
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
4 Simple Due Diligence Tests
Ideally, your state or cooperative marketing organization has already
established a statewide contract and performed due diligence and vendor
selection. If not, there are limits to the amount of information you can
justify collecting (or understanding) for a One Day Event.
•
•
•
•
LEADED GLASS recycling records
GOLD BEARING SCRAP markets
SAMPLE EXPORT manifests
EMPLOYEES PER TON
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
1. CRT Lead Glass Test – Lead CRT glass is the most expensive item to
recycle domestically, and the biggest source of toxics.
Ask vendor these 2 questions:
-“How many tons of leaded glass did you send to lead smelters or glass
furnaces last year?”
- (divide by) “How many total tons of electronics did you collect last
year?”
(Ask for the lead glass end market to verify the shipments.)
After reuse, lead glass is 42% of material. Reuse will lower this figure,
but not EVERYTHING can be reused.
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
2. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Gold Test –
Not every PC can be refurbished. When sold for metal content, most
of the pollution comes from extracting the gold circuit boards.
Ask your vendor to provide documentation of
markets for printed circuit board recycling. If
there is no documentation, ask whether they are
shipping computers intact to foreign markets.
Asia is the #1 consumer of gold PER CAPITA
BAN: chinese circuit board / gold recycler
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
3. Truthful Manifest Test - Ask for RECENT shipping papers (sensitive
market info can be blocked out). Legitimate bill of lading shows
make/model/voltage/COO/condition.
“40,000 lbs. scrap metal”
“1030 pcs. Tested Working Monitors 95-99”
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
4. Employment / Capacity Test
1M
How many pounds per 5 employees?
Limited Demanufacturing and repair
3M
Automated shredding
10M
Whole-lotta Wholesaling going on…
Average is somewhere around five employees per million pounds of electronics.
If it’s outsourced, insist on end market documentation!!
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
American Retroworks Inc.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dell Inc. Recycling Grants – NRC Conference
mineralpolicy.org
mpi.org.au
USGS.gov
moles.org
ban.org
copper.org
www.antigraymarket.org
• these and other links www.retroworks.com
www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT