Digital security

Gartner Inc. recognizes Sims Recycling Solutions

The electronics recycling firm Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS), with AmericaS headquarters in Chicago, has been recognized as a leader in the ITAD (IT asset disposal) industry by Gartner Inc., an IT research and advisory company, in its December 2013 Magic Quadrant for Worldwide IT Asset Disposition.

SRS says that because market demand for ITAD services is global, the Magic Quadrant looked at the market worldwide. Gartner assessed 11 international vendors using high-inclusion criteria relating to services delivered, geographies covered and quality of execution, SRS says.

“With the expanded geographical scope of this assessment, we consider our position in the ‘Leaders’ quadrant by Gartner as confirmation of our ability to provide quality, consistent services across the globe,” says Steve Skurnac, president of SRS Americas. “We will continue to implement best practices from around the world to solve our customers’ needs and help them recover the maximum value for their IT and electronic equipment.”

SRS provides recycling services at 42 locations worldwide. In North America, SRS operates 14 sites in Arizona, British Columbia, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Ontario, Quebec, Tennessee and Texas.

IMS Electronics names director of compliance

IMS Electronics Recycling, headquartered in Poway, Calif., has named Robert Benavent its director of compliance. Benavent previously served as senior engineer in Sony Electronics’ corporate environmental, health and safety department.

At Sony, Benavent managed national e-waste compliance, including vendor auditing, volume tracking and contract review. He also led ISO compliance at various sites during his five-and-a-half-year tenure with Sony.

IMS Electronics Recycling is a special division of the IMS Group. The company provides electronics recycling on a national scale and has locations in California, Georgia, Washington and Ohio.

EcoATM marks 2 million devices recycled

San Diego-based EcoATM, the nationwide network of automated electronics recycling kiosks, has announced that it has recycled more than 2 million cellphones and devices in its four-year history. Pointing to a rising trend in Americans’ interest in electronics recycling, the company says it took just nine months for it to double the number of devices it has processed; ecoATM announced that it had recycled 1 million devices in April 2013.

EcoATM’s more than 800 kiosks, which are in shopping malls and at retailers, collect consumer electronics, such as mobile phones, tablets and MP3 players, for recycling and provide cash payments as an incentive for consumers to recycle. Customers also can choose to donate a portion or all of their cash payment to a number of charity partners. Some very old phones may not be worth anything, but ecoATM says it assures they will be responsibly recycled.

“More people across the country are realizing the hidden value in the phones and devices they’ve been tossing into junk drawers for years, and with only 20 percent of cellphones being recycled today, there is incredible potential for millions of Americans,” says Mark Bowles, ecoATM founder and chief marketing officer. “Our goal is to offer consumers an opportunity to convert their clutter into cash while doing the right thing for the environment by keeping tons of toxic waste out of our nation’s landfills.”

EcoATM is a subsidiary of Belleview, Wash.-based Outerwall Inc. EcoATM holds both Responsible Recycling Practices (R2) and ISO 14001 certifications.

E-Waste Security offers mobile hard drive destruction

Irvine, Calif.-based E-Waste Security has launched a mobile hard drive destruction unit serving Orange County and Los Angeles.

The company says it has installed a 300HD hard drive shredder from Ameri-Shred, Alpena, Mich., in a Dodge Sprinter van. The mobile unit can serve individuals with as few as five PCs and can shred 600 hard drives per hour, says Gary Scott, chief operating officer of E-Waste Security.

“Large paper shredding trucks cannot efficiently provide service to these smaller customers,” Scott adds. “Our new unit allows us to bring on-site hard drive destruction and computer recycling to individuals not previously served.”

E-Waste Security is certified for mobile destruction of hard drives and nonpaper media by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), Phoenix.