Robin NRC - Dell Vendor Guide

American Retroworks Inc.
E-Scrap Recycling, a Guide to Vendor Selection

Economic, Environmental and Ethical Considerations
Robin Ingenthron
Middlebury, Vermont
www.retroworks.com
An NRC Training Program sponsored by Dell Inc.

www.retroworks.com Middlebury, VT
Session Topics:
1) Why Hold This Event?

2) What about Exports?
3) Recycling 101: Understanding your supply and your
vendors demand
4) Rules of Thumb for selecting recycling vendors
Why Hold This Event?
World Demand for Copper, Gold, Aluminum, Lead, Plastic and Steel
expands Daily. The worst recycling is environmentally better than the
best mining.
One day events are a date, not a marriage. Establish your collections
and you can leverage vendor practices, dictate higher standards.
The longer monitors and computers are stored, the less social (digital
divide) and economic value they have
Reuse markets for CRTs are strong today, but in 2 years they may dive.
Residents dont stop generating electronic waste while advocates

ponder policy.

1)
E-Scrap is 300% richer in copper and other metals than mined ore
2)
Recycling produces a fraction of the pollution from mining. Hard rock mining
produces 45% of all toxics produced by all USA industries.
3)
Gorilla and orangutan extinction is arguably driven by electrics metal mining.
4)
USGS At 1990 rate of consumption, copper reserves will be exhausted this

century: Ocean mining will be the primary source of copper in our lifetimes.
5)
USA Model? 95% from federal lands, $5/acre, 14/15 largest Superfund sites
Gold mining releases more mercury into the environment than

Mining nightmares in Borneo, Chile, Congo, Philippines, Turkey, etc.
Middlebury, VT
mercury production andwww.retroworks.com
disposal combined!!!

USA Mercury Emissions by Industry
(Rank #2-#7 - w/o GOLD Mining)
Source: http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/tri/report/01/mercury.pdf

USA Mercury Emissions by Industry
(Rank #1-#7)
Source: http://www.epa.gov/region09/toxic/tri/report/01/mercury.pdf
What About Exports?

Its better to meet demand than not to. That said, sleazy exports
threaten recycling, and are worse than not recycling at all.
REALITY: If USA exports everything,
we send 1/3 reusables, 1/3 recyclables, and 1/3 Toxics Along for the Ride.
REALITY: if USA exports nothing,
we destroy reuseables (and they cannot afford new); they mine to replace the
recycled metals, and mining produces even more toxic harm than recycling.
SOLUTION: Setting a Higher Standard. USA processing, limited exports
(tested equipment, copper scrap), simple tests (like CRT Glass Test); market
development to promote best practices; (funded) state processing contracts
with restrictions and incentives; etc.

Q: Why should we know the basics behind international demand?
A: Youll be asked several times a week, Do you export this stuff?
Understanding Export Forces to Asia

Reuse Forces
Recycling Forces
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.
High tolerance/demand for used

Free software
Cheap parts
Good, cheap tech. labor
Metal demand
Balance of Trade
Cheap labor
Cheap env. Laws
20
Giant Sucking Sound
15
Growth in Chinese demand for copper (ore and

scrap): 20% per year 1999-2002
10
0
1999
2000
2001
2002
The Good and the Ugly
Monitor Refurbishing Factory

Copper extracted by hand
THE BAD: Legitimate USA recyclers must be able to show where the
non-repairable lead goes.
Toxics Along For the Ride will hold
recycling back
Recycling 101: Understanding Basics
1) What you have

2) What the vendor does to it
3) Considerations for evaluating bids (ie demand) from multiple
recycling vendors
What you have

1) Pristine takeouts for
auction, clean scrap
- you can deal with anyone directly
2) Junk - you should insist on

domestic processing
3) I dunno- you should deal with

USA companis with capacity to
separate, process, market, document
This is always the one-day event
What the vendor does to it
$$$?
1)
Can it be reused? 5% material = 50% of income

- e.g. 17 monitor tested working, $30
$?
2) Can it be repaired? 15% material = 30% of income

- e.g. white box PCs, repairable monitors, $5 each
$
3)
Can it be recycled? 75% of material = 20% of income

-
lead, gold, copper, aluminum, steel, plastic, pennies per

pound. Does not cover labor or processing cost.
4)
Disposed (incl. contaminants)? 5% material = LOSS

- Wood debris, cable casings
All Income combined = 1/3 of collection and operating cost
As the dollars get smaller, the volume gets bigger

4 Simple Due Diligence Tests

Ideally, your state or cooperative marketing organization has already
established a statewide contract and performed due diligence and vendor
selection. If not, there are limits to the amount of information you can
justify collecting (or understanding) for a One Day Event.
LEADED GLASS recycling records

GOLD BEARING SCRAP markets
SAMPLE EXPORT manifests (how is it recorded
and declared?)
Employees or capital investment per ton
1. CRT Lead Glass Test Lead CRT glass is the most expensive item to
recycle domestically, and the biggest source of toxics.
Ask vendor these 2 questions:
-How many tons of leaded glass did you send to
lead smelters or glass furnaces last year?
- (divide by) How many total tons of electronics
did you collect last year?
(Ask for the lead glass end market to verify

the shipments.)
After reuse, lead glass is 42% of material. Reuse will lower this figure,
but not EVERYTHING can be reused.
2. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Gold Test

Not every PC can be refurbished. When sold for metal content, most
of the pollution comes from extracting the gold circuit boards.
Ask your vendor to provide

documentation of markets
for printed circuit board
recycling. If there is no
documentation, ask
whether they are shipping
computers intact to foreign
markets.
Asia is the #1 consumer of gold PER CAPITA

BAN: chinese circuit board / gold recycler
3. Truthful Manifest Test - Ask for RECENT shipping papers (sensitive

market info can be blocked out). Legitimate bill of lading shows
make/model/voltage/COO/condition.
40,000 lbs. scrap metal
1030 pcs. Tested Working Monitors 95-99

4. Employment / Capacity Test
1M
How many pounds per 5 employees?

Limited Demanufacturing and repair
3M
Automated shredding
10M
Whole-lotta Wholesaling going on
Average is somewhere around five employees per million pounds of electronics.

If its outsourced, insist on end market documentation!!
mineralpolicy.org
mpi.org.au
USGS.gov
moles.org
ban.org
copper.org
www.antigraymarket.org
these and other links www.retroworks.com

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American Retroworks Inc.

E-Scrap Recycling, a Guide to Vendor Selection

An NRC Training Program sponsored by Dell Inc.

American Retroworks Inc.

1) Why Hold This Event?

American Retroworks Inc.

Why Hold This Event?

Residents dont stop generating electronic waste while advocates

American Retroworks Inc.

Gorilla and orangutan extinction is arguably driven by electrics metal mining.

USGS At 1990 rate of consumption, copper reserves will be exhausted this

Gold mining releases more mercury into the environment than

American Retroworks Inc.

American Retroworks Inc.

American Retroworks Inc.

What About Exports?

American Retroworks Inc.

American Retroworks Inc.

Understanding Export Forces to Asia

High tolerance/demand for used

Giant Sucking Sound

Growth in Chinese demand for copper (ore and

American Retroworks Inc.

The Good and the Ugly

Monitor Refurbishing Factory

American Retroworks Inc.

American Retroworks Inc.

Recycling 101: Understanding Basics

1) What you have

American Retroworks Inc.

What you have

2) Junk - you should insist on

3) I dunno- you should deal with

This is always the one-day event

American Retroworks Inc.

What the vendor does to it

Can it be reused? 5% material = 50% of income

2) Can it be repaired? 15% material = 30% of income

Can it be recycled? 75% of material = 20% of income

lead, gold, copper, aluminum, steel, plastic, pennies per

Disposed (incl. contaminants)? 5% material = LOSS

All Income combined = 1/3 of collection and operating cost

As the dollars get smaller, the volume gets bigger

American Retroworks Inc.

4 Simple Due Diligence Tests

LEADED GLASS recycling records

American Retroworks Inc.

(Ask for the lead glass end market to verify

American Retroworks Inc.

2. Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Gold Test

Ask your vendor to provide

Asia is the #1 consumer of gold PER CAPITA

American Retroworks Inc.

3. Truthful Manifest Test - Ask for RECENT shipping papers (sensitive

1030 pcs. Tested Working Monitors 95-99

American Retroworks Inc.

4. Employment / Capacity Test

How many pounds per 5 employees?