WASTE NEWS - September 2003

E-recycling industry continues evolution

Joe Truini

It may not be getting any easier or any cheaper, but the electronics industry is growing as players try to recover what seems to be an inexhaustible supply of material.

"Some of the smaller people are not in the business any longer," said Brian Brundage, CEO of Intercon Solutions Inc. in Chicago. "Larger firms also are streamlining operations to more effectively handle material, which is not hard to find," Brundage said. "There are so many more monitors and so many more CPU's out there than anybody really has a clue," he said. "there are just warehouses chock-full of this material all over the U.S."

Despite the challenges, the industry is growing. Operational costs for the most part aren't decreasing, but electronics recyclers increasingly are able to justify higher prices to customers wanting to rid themselves of obsolete electronics.

[ Close Window ]