State e-waste law provides business opportunities

January 29, 2013

New electronics recycling law in Illinois sees opportunities for recyclers and remanufacturers.

WBEZ reports on the impact of Illinois’ new state law, passed in 2008 and implemented at the start of 2012, which bans the landfilling of electronic products, including printers, with recycling companies and remanufacturers using the law as a business opportunity.

Pointing out that the US does not currently have a national law governing e-waste despite “nearly one million” printer cartridges being disposed of everyday in the country and much of the country’s e-waste ending up “in poor countries, where its poisonous materials can cause public health hazards”, the article states that 24 US states have taken their own measures against the issue of e-waste disposal.

In Illinois, the state’s new electronics recycling law has seen recycling rates increase by 50 percent during 2012, with data still being collected from recyclers and manufacturers expected to show a similar rise as companies selling electronics are also required to meet recycling goals.

Among the companies benefitting from Illinois’ new electronics recycling law is Chicago-based Sims Recycling Solutions, which recycles “300 million pounds of electronics each year”, offsetting 300,000 tons of carbon per year. The company’s Sean Magann commented: “The barriers to entry in this business are low, so there have been a lot of companies that come and go, but we’ve seen a steady increase in business from Chicago over the years.”

Meanwhile, Evolve Recycling, a subsidiary of Clover Technologies Group that collects and remanufactures printer cartridges has also benefitted from the opportunities e-waste can bring, with the company processing over 10,000 cartridges per month and its new programme paying end-user businesses “up to $10 per cartridge”. However, the company is expecting increasing competition from other companies as more turn to making e-waste profitable, with the article claiming that a “war over waste” has begun.

Categories : Products and Technology

Tags : E-waste North America Recycling