Gold rush: Gold Circuit Inc. plays its hand at electronics recycling in the Arizona desert - Cover Story

Recycling Today, Sept, 2002 by Brian Taylor

Although the plant has been designed with monitors in mind, the material mix could eventually change. Greenberg, though, sees CRTs as providing the initial influx of material. "I think at first we'll see mostly terminals and monitors; this is where the problem is. People want those out of their warehouses. This includes recycling companies that may already have collected them from cities. We may work with some municipalities and not charge them for monitors versus other equipment."

Egosi says the plant is prepared to handle whatever electronic scrap may come its way. "We've supplied an automated system that will allow Gold Circuit to recycle all types of electronic scrap without distinguishing between them, and then to separate and create materials they can market."

The automation of the plant yields both safety advantages and allows for a processing volume that makes it efficient. "There has been no automated system that can recycle these CRTs," says Egosi. "But with our system, you can handle 600 or 700 monitors per hour. Many computer recyclers are dismantling monitors by hand and only doing that many per day, at best. The future of manual dismantling is questionable, unless the labor is free, and even then you have worker health challenges."

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

In addition to the Casa Grande plant being an experiment in its processing system, there is also an element of experimentation in terms of its return on investment.

"It's always risky any time you expand your business," says Greenberg. "We think the Casa Grande investment is worth it because of the number of customers who want CRTs handled properly. Other risks have worked out for us because we went about things the right way."

Gold Circuit will derive income from both tipping fees and from marketable commodities produced at its Casa Grande plant. "Initially, we're charging customers between 18 and 24 cents per pound to send material to the Casa Grande plant," says Harry Strachan, who is project manager at the facility.

"We've set our prices to be very reasonable," says Greenberg. "We want the business right off the bat, for one reason. It will also make it affordable for municipalities and solid waste and recycling districts who collect material."

Securing enough material to keep the Casa Grande plant running near or at its 25,000-pounds-per-hour processing capacity (roughly equivalent to 800 monitors per hour) will be a key mission for Strachan, Greenberg and other Gold Circuit employees.

"Right now our clientele is largely corporate," says Greenberg. "Municipalities are interested, but they're trying to figure out their budgets and come up with programs that will work."

But the material that could come from municipal collections in California alone (a state that is banning CRT disposal in landfills) could ultimately be significant. "A small city in California ran a three-day collection program that generated 400 tons of material in those three days," says Greenberg. "These are problems everybody has."