American Retroworks Inc.
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.
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American Retroworks Inc.
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
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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.
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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
Gold mining releases more mercury into the environment than
Mining nightmares in Borneo, Chile, Congo, Philippines, Turkey, etc.
Middlebury, VT
mercury production andwww.retroworks.com
disposal combined!!!
American Retroworks Inc.
USA Mercury Emissions by Industry
(Rank #2-#7 - w/o GOLD Mining)
Electricity
Plants
Petroleum
60000
50000
40000
Cement
30000
Waste & Haz
Waste
Copper Mining
20000
10000
0
Total On/Off-site Hg Releases
Federal/Defense
Facilities
Silver Mining
Source: http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/tri/report/01/mercury.pdf
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American Retroworks Inc.
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
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American Retroworks Inc.
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.
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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
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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
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The Good and the Ugly
Monitor Refurbishing Factory
Copper extracted by hand
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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
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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
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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 companis with capacity to
separate, process, market, document
This is always the one-day event
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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…
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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 (how is it recorded
and declared?)
• Employees or capital investment per ton
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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.
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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
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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”
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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!!
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American Retroworks Inc.
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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