Electronic Recycling

The directors for Australia-based Sims Group (profiled in the May 2006 issue of Recycling Today), which bills itself as the world’ largest scrap recycling company, has announced the acquisition of two North American electronics recycling companies.

When the acquisitions are complete, Sims says that it will be the largest global recycler of electronic equipment. The company estimates that it will be capable of handling nearly 25 million computers, monitors, television sets, refrigerators, toner cartridges and other types of electronic scrap per year.

Sims’ Recycling Solutions division completed the acquisition of United Recycling Industries (URI) March 12. URI, a Chicago-based electronics recycler (profiled in the April 2002 issue of Recycling Today), provides a full range of services, including collection, refurbishment and re-sale of equipment chip recovery, mechanical processing of monitors, recycling of electronic scrap and secondary smelting and refining of high grade electronics.

The company also has a purchase agreement to acquire the end-of-life recycling assets of three Xstrata Copper Canada’s electronics recycling businesses. The facilities are in Roseville, Calif.; Lavergne, Tenn.; and Brampton, Ontario. The acquisition is expected to be complete this month. The three facilities, previously owned by Noranda, provide asset recovery and e-recycling services, including mechanical processing.

"The focus of these North American businesses is currently more directed toward B2B electronics recycling, but we expect to progressively capitalize on future legislation across the United States and expand our business into B2C end-of-life recycling, more akin to our European business," Jeremy Sutcliffe, Sims Group’s CEO, says.

"Following a strategic review of the end-of-life electronics recycling business, a decision was reached to divest these assets to Sims Recycling Solutions, owned by the world’s largest publicly traded metals recycler," Claude Ferron, Xstrata Copper Canada COO, says. "By partnering with Sims, Xstrata Copper has the opportunity to increase the volume of recycled material processed through its Horne smelter in Rouyn, Quebec, and to grow our activity in the precious metal and copper recycling business."

Redemtech, a provider of "Technology Change Management" (TCM) services, has announced that it is establishing a Security and Asset Protection practice to strengthen its industry-leading security offering.

The newly created position is responsible for auditing Redemtech and customer practices for physical security and chain-of-custody control of data-bearing assets along the supply chain. "This enables Redemtech, which serves many privacy-regulated companies in banking, health care and insurance, to continue to tighten off-network security practices for IT asset disposition and to proactively assist clients in identifying and closing physical and data security gaps in their enterprise," according to a press release from the company.

"Redemtech has worked closely with our clients to develop a suite of off-network security offerings that have become best practices in the industry," Bob Houghton, president of Redemtech, says. "This new position enables us to be more proactive in helping our clients integrate these best practices into their organizations and audit compliance, minimizing the risk of costly and damaging security breaches."

Redemtech has recruited Greg Sewell to lead the new area as the practice adviser, security and asset protection. This new position addresses concerns regarding the challenge of protecting privacy-regulated and other confidential information from loss or theft. In his new role, Sewell serves the dual purpose of managing Redemtech’s security policies and processes as well as consulting with customers’ to identify and eliminate security gaps.

Sewell previously served as a security specialist with Cardinal Health, No. 19 on Fortune magazine’s list of America’s largest corporations, where he provided corporate security consultation and support to more than 200 facilities. He also serves as an assistant operations non-commissioned officer to the Ohio Army National Guard in Columbus, Ohio.

Sewell’s training and professional development includes courses and instruction from the American Society for Industrial Security, International, where he has been an active member since 2003.

More information on Redemtech is available at www.redemtech.com.

Goodwill Industries of KYOWVA Area Inc., Huntington. W. Va., has launched eCycle, a free drop-off program to recycle unwanted computers.

"In the United States, some 100 million computers, monitors and other kinds of electronic equipment become obsolete annually," Carter Seaton, Goodwill marketing director, says.

In the past, Goodwill has accepted donated computers and electronics for sale in its retail stores, but recently had limited those donations to avoid equipment that either did not work or was too old to be saleable. With the launch of eCycle, Goodwill of KYOWVA now accepts all nonworking or outdated computers and components, peripherals and cell phones at its area retail stores and donation centers or at its industrial contracts center.

"Donors do not need to worry about leaving personal information behind, either," Seaton says. "At the camera-monitored, secure facility, trained workers sort and evaluate the donated equipment. Computers that meet minimum standards will be refurbished if possible—with the hard drives wiped clean—and then resold in a Goodwill retail store where the proceeds support Goodwill’s job training and placement programs."

If a computer can’t be refurbished, workers will clean its hard drive, de-manufacture it, and sort the components for recycling.

Donors may request a certificate verifying that their donated hard drives have been cleaned according to Department of Defense standards.

Electronic Recyclers, headquartered in Fresno, Calif., has been recognized by California’s Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP).

The program was established in 1993 by the California Integrated Waste Management Board to recognize California businesses that have made outstanding efforts to reduce waste and to send less material to state landfills.

"It is an honor and a privilege to be recognized by the state of California for our waste reduction efforts," John Shegerian, Electronic Recyclers’ co-founder, chairman and CEO, says. "Properly disposing of electronic waste and the hazards it presents to our environment is our day-to-day business. The reason we received the WRAP award is because we practice what we preach and are environmentally responsible in every aspect of our operations."

Electronic Recyclers claims that it is the largest electronics recycling facility in California that demanufactures, recycles and crushes cathode ray tubes (CRTs) found in computer monitors, televisions and other types of video equipment. The facility is capable of processing up to 10 million pounds of electronic scrap per month.