Even "recyclers" are just "distributors" to china.
I work for a remanufacturer/recycler in the US, also helping groups fundraise through recycling inkjets and phones, so I've been asked these questions a LOT. Forgive me if the following sounds harsh, but I spend so much time being polite about it and I'd rather just be truthful.
You probably live in a country (UK or US?) where people aren't fond of the chemicals, wastes, smells and hazardous materials that come from e-waste recycling. I don't think people realize exactly how dirty the process is.
Most recyclers are just distributors. The definition of "recycler" is extremely gray. A "true" E-waste recycler (who actually melts things down and extracts raw materials) cannot make enough money to pay for the facilities, permits, laborers and eventual lawsuits that would come from recycling hazardous materials on "first world soil". These materials are more expensive than raw materials and there's not enough demand for them. This is why e-waste is recycled abroad, to make more money and to get around stringent environmental laws. Even HP, which now claims that it is making it's new inkjet cartridges out of old inkjet cartridges will not tell you where those old inkjet cartridges are being recycled before they go back into production.
If you're fundraising by recycling with someone in the UK or US, the likelihood is that ALL of your stuff will eventually make it to the third world or China. I work in Los Angeles and I can tell you that NONE of the "recyclers" here actually do any melting or extracting. They are just distributors. They make their money off the volumes they can send to China.
My company remanufactures inkjet cartridges. We are a actually one step above other "fundraiser/recyclers" because most fundraiser/recyclers send their inkjets to us, their cell phones to real cell phone refurbishers, etc. Real remanufacturers and refurbishers don't have time to make a great fundraising company, because their money comes from selling these products on the secondary market. Your fundraising company makes its money by turning around and selling these items to companies like mine. We re-fill them and extend their life cycle. BUT, they still have to be "recycled" when their useful life is over and NO ONE makes any real money on recycling e-waste unless they're a very poor person in the third world. The recycler we use to handle our scrap has a nice facility that is ISO 14001 certified, and many recyclers brag about their environmental friendliness, but it's easy to brag about that when all you are is a distributor and the real, dirty work happens somewhere else.
Here's an email written by someone who also works in the remanufacturing business, in response to a customer of mine who was very concerned that their stuff could potentially end up in another country.
"When I was in China, we visited an electronics recycling plant (My client sold and collected electronics, security equipment, cameras, cables etc.). I was shocked to see 100’s of kids working hard in a toxic environment to separate the components and materials where half were recycled & other half was just dumped. When I voiced my dismay to the plant manager who was giving us a tour, he said “It’s a start, isn’t it? You have to start somewhere. You want this junk here being worked on or just sitting in the landfills? You want this crap in my country or yours?”
"So my comment to your customers is that; it’s a start & we’re doing our best. We demand our partners to be “Clean” and true “recyclers”. BUT we have no control over them and how they choose to conduct their affairs. No program is perfect and ideal yet. Feel good when you recycle your coke & pepsi cans? What happens to the color & etched dye on the cans? Lots of energy & heavy duty chemical are used to strip off and remove the paint from those cans before they are melted. What happens to those chemical & the stripped paint. No one knows. The only reason for the growth of these programs is that financially it’s a bit (and it is just a few pennies) cheaper for coke to buy 1 pound of recycled aluminum then 1 pound of mined version. Coke doesn’t love the environment, it loved the savings.
"This whole “Green” concept is new to consumers & businesses alike. Everyone is trying to figure it out. The current systems have multiple middlemen & are not yet efficient enough to make recycling businesses succeed. No one out there pays a decent amount for the recycled material. That is why the crap ends up in China not Germany. Most Recycling programs are for profit businesses. They are not being subsidized by the government to make up for the loss. Consumers are not willing to pay taxes to fund them. The responsibility is on the consumer as well not just recyclers. Customers should contact their government officials and demand local, state & federal funding. That is the quickest way things will change, otherwise, we all have to wait until the market sorts everything out over time.
"So if any customers ask for explanations of our actions, they should be told that we are doing our best but at least we are doing something to contribute. We are always doing our best to look for people who will do the right thing. We are working hard to figure out how not to lose money or at the maximum break even on the deals that we make. We are not perfect. The collectors are not perfect. The systems are not perfect. And the consumer certainly is not perfect (who in their right mind will buy a older model/refurbished phone here in the US???)
back to me: Until refurbished phones, remanufactured products and recycled materials are DEMANDED by consumers and those same consumers actually go back to having their items SERVICED (like the TVs mentioned in a post above) it will still be too costly to recycle these products. People want so badly to relieve themselves of the guilty conscience associated with buying tons of hazardous electronic hardware and not knowing what to do with it. But they won't buy refurbishes phones, they want a new laptop every two years and they hate their old TVs. We can't just take your junk and make it disappear. Particularly not when you don't want to see lead and mercury poisoning your pristine countryside (or anyone's pristine countryside).
Buy refurbished, buy recycled, re-use and re-service EVERYTHING, and maybe then the system will be profitable enough to make e-waste recycling attractive in the first world.
I apologize if I sounded offensive. I'm happy to hear your questions.
Roberta
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