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

Recycling Today, Sept, 2002 by Brian Taylor

Jurisdictions in California had been accustomed to working with export brokers, but this practice has fallen out of favor since the disclosure of unsafe recycling practices in California stung a number of public agencies in that state. (See the June 2002 Recycling Today, "Searching for Solutions," pg. 56, and "Setting a Higher Standard," pg. 64.)

In California, disposal is not an option, and Greenberg notes that fines have been levied against public agencies and corporations whose CRTs are discovered entering a landfill. "Some California companies have been fined up to $1.2 million," says Greenberg. "So in comparison, companies love the rates we're charging," he adds.

Recyclers in other segments are well aware of the fickle nature of the secondary commodity markets. That is one reason why Greenberg and Strachan are not relying too heavily on raw material sales when making income forecasts.

BRINGING IT TOGETHER

One of the major challenges for Gold Circuit will be the widespread dispersal of electronic scrap in virtually every household and business in the U.S.

Unlike recyclers of some materials, who can concentrate on key generators, Gold Circuit will be working with a mixed bag of large generators (major corporations and government agencies) and one and two-unit generators.

The company already has a decent handle on the large generators, as exemplified by Strachan's assessment that 90 percent of the current mix of incoming electronic scrap will come from the corporate stream.

What remains to be seen is how the municipal or residential collection of obsolete electronics will take shape over the next several years.

"The legislation in California to ban monitors from landfills is probably just a first step," predicts Strachan. "Within a few years, the federal government may have a general policy of not putting computers into landfills."

If this trend develops, it could eventually mean a bounty of obsolete electronic equipment destined for recycling plants such as Gold Circuit's. "We're going to get equipment from throughout the U.S., even the East Coast, because we can handle the volume," says Greenberg.

Collection events such as the one in the California town that collected 400 tons of electronic scrap could well become far more commonplace. It is unclear whether Gold Circuit will become more involved in the collection end, but the company is certainly ready to serve as a destination, and even has room to expand.

"We have designed the Casa Grande plant to put in a second processing line within six months if we need to," says Greenberg. "We feel the market is out there and ready, and that there is pent-up demand in California and beyond."

EXPORT LOOPHOLE?

At least one recycling activist is afraid that the U.S. government has left open a loophole that will allow obsolete electronics to continue to be exported. Read more at www.RecyclingToday.com.

RELATED ARTICLE: Keeping the record straight.

The nature of electronic scrap recycling is such that processing it and finding end markets is not the entire story. Documentation and proof of recycling are needed by many former equipment owners, presenting an added responsibility.