good point recycling po box 1010 middlebury, vt 05753 p: 802-382-8500 electronics recycling...

Good Point Recycling

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 www.retroworks.com P: 802-382-8500

Electronics Recycling Exports:

Domestic v. Overseas Repair alternatives

Robin IngenthronPresident, American Retroworks Inc.VP, ElectroniCycle Inc.

NRC Sept. 2002 – Austin, Texas



Focus on Monitors

• USA demand 2001 - 50 Million monitors• China Demand (est.) - 50 M monitors (20%)• India Demand (est.) - 50 M monitors (25%)• These 3 countries will consume about 450

million pounds of copper to meet this demand

• USA is mostly replacement based on changing consumer preference (not “obsolescence”). India/China are mostly first use



Two Basic Recycling Goals

• Best possible/available environmental management

• Least possible/available cost

The higher thecost, the lowerthe diversion

The lower the cost,the higher the risk of TAR



Summary of AlternativesUSA Export

Repairbest revenuebest end use

declining

expensive labor (andsometimes lousy)Poor consumer demand

expanding

cheap, talented repairHigh consumer toleranceOEM Hostility / parts

Recyclingbest source ofnew material

expanding

driven by need todispose, regulation

expanding

driven by demand fornon-ferrous metal

Disposal well regulated

relatively expensive

unregulated

residues dumped onstreets and in rivers

Mining stagnant

horrow show

expanding

snuff film



3 Kinds of Export

1. Unprocessed junk

2. Segregated, Demanufacured, and Graded scrap (copper, aluminum, palladium, etc.)

3. Re-use and Repair

• Which of these are superior to mining? How important are they to the cost of recycling?



Labor cost to product value$ spent and earned per 1000 monitors

-2000

-1500

-1000

-500

0

500

1000

1500

Copper revenue

Other materialrevenue

25% monitor resale

Demanufacturing

Repair Labor

Scrap handling



USA - Repair

• As repair declines waste management increases

• Estimated non-digital TVs destined for obsolescence: 100,000,000

• TV repair employment 1980: 100,000+ (NESDA members)

• TV repair employment 2000: 39,000 (US BLS)

• TV repair employment, projected for 2010: 19,000 (US BLS)

= fickle consumer demand

= low USA tolerance for used / cosmetically “functional”

= high cost ($22/hour) for Master Technician

= poor recruitment into the field



Realistic Reuse Goals

Re-Use

Recycle

% of units Re-usable % of weight Re-usable



Copper revenue

Other materialrevenue

monitor re-use

- 2% re-use = 20% cost reduction- diminishing returns as re-use increases



USA Recycling or Disposal Jobs / Ton

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Jobs /1,000tons

Disposal

Exporting

Recycling

1 ton = about 50 picture tubessource: EPA JTR Report

0200400600800

1000120014001600

Jobs /1,000tons

Disposal

Exporting

Recycling

Repair



USA Repair Creates Jobs

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

USA Employment

ComputerRepair

TV Repair

All MetalMining



Overseas Repair - Good Practices• Average life for all durables is more than doubled

– cars, TVs, shoes, etc. are not “disposable” until “unrepairable”

– Consumer demand / tolerance is high

• Positive revenue $5-20 per unit has strict conditions– US Technician appraised

– Make / model / year / serial / condition / country of manufacture

– No screen burn, 110/220 switches, SVGA

– Each individually manifested monitor may be sold/refused individually

– “Fly and Buy” and self-packing is common

• Different countries have different specialties and capacity – Singapore / Malaysia / India (where parts are made)

– Latin America (Similar NTSC, power)

– Eastern Europe (High technical skills)



Overseas Repair - Bad Practices• Toxics along for the ride (TAR)

– Poorly packaged, hand-packed containers

– “Buyer take all” sale conditions

– Misrepresentation of condition

• Positive revenue a blurry picture– $ per unit v. Pennies per pound

– “Goodies along for the Ride” (GAR) cigarettes, Harleys, cars

– Tariff avoidance, dual bill of lading

• “Counterfeiting”, “grey market”, “enforced obsolescence” – Some repairers are “too good”

– OEM influence on import rules

– Warrantees



A real bad sign



Compare 4 USA electronics scrap companies

• 20 USA employees: 0% sold for repair, 100% demanufacturing - ($.30/lb)

• 25 USA employees: 25% monitors sold for reuse/repair, positive revenue. 75% scrapped in USA at a cost - (.15/lb)

• 6 USA employees: 75% monitors shipped for scrap and repair at $0. 25% sent to company A above - (.06/lb)

• 1 USA employee: 100% export. Generator is sent shipping container and packing list - ($ 0)

– Where are the toxics along for the ride?



4 Simple Rules for Exports

• All material must be individually listed on bill of lading. No “take it all deals”.

• Each listed item must be for positive revenue.• US Company must have employee and plant capacity to

demanufacture non-exportables.• Keep a list of items never to be exported (e.g. CRT

glass, gold) .

Demand to see export bill of lading or shipping manifests (with name removed to protect proprietary market relationships).



Alternative: End World Mining Subsidies Percentage of gold, copper, silver, lead ores production from federal lands: 95%

Projected Bureau of Land Management revenues from mineral royalties and leases: $300,000

Federal Employees managing mineral leases: 339

Bureau of Land Management lease /acre: $5 (set in 1872)

Federal share of gold/copper/silver income: $0

Number hard-rock mines of 15 largest Superfund sites: 14

Mining % of ALL TOXICS from ALL US INDUSTRIES: 47%

Typical copper smelter fine: $24,000 per day



Copper - Production and Price

Unit value (98$/t)

World production

7,000 495,0005,000 858,0003,140 959,0002,860 1,610,0002,960 2,400,0003,210 2,380,0003,920 3,940,0005,375 5,900,0004,419 7,200,0003,383 9,200,0001,841 13,200,000

2667%

For the first half of the century,“copper was king”. USA was world’slargest producer and exporter.

As electronic/electric manufacturingmoved to Asia and Latin America,so have copper foundries. USA exportsless copper today than in 1900.



Longer Term Solutions to E-Waste Recycling

• CERCLA (Superfund) Reauthorization - Funded by taxpayers since industry funding expired in 1995, most expenses are non-ferrous mining related.

• US Telecommunications Act - Provides billions in free airwaves for transition to Digital TV, which will "obsolete" the majority of TVs now in service; no responsibility for recycling

• General Mining Act of 1872 - Terms have not been amended for 130 years.

• Federal Recycled Content Standards for Metals• “Structured Relief” from EPA smelter fines• Revise (1970 era) OEM Repair Support Rules



What about Asian Mining & Recycling?

• NO Superfund cleanup• “Environmental Arms Race”

Philippines, Indonesia, passed legislation modeled on 1872 General Mining Act

• Chinese mining deaths 2001: 5,000-6,000

• Amazon/African gold mining uses elemental mercury

• Cyanide & arsenic are byproducts of virgin copper

Copper as a percentage of mined Material, after cyanide leaching: <2%

Of that copper, % “electronics grade” <10%



More Perspectives

• Www.ban.org

• www.unctad.org

• www.mineralpolicy.org

• www.mpi.org.au

• www.retroworks.com

• www.electronicycle.com

good point recycling po box 1010 middlebury, vt 05753 p: 802-382-8500 electronics recycling...

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