Published: December 5, 2023
Updated: December 5, 2023
by Jared Paben
Plastics Recycling Update: A Resource Recycling, Inc. publication
Chris Kaasmann sees a parallel between the electronics recycling industry’s requirement to start managing electronics plastics differently and the need for the planet to switch to renewable energy. Both need to happen, but in neither case can you simply flip a switch to realize universal change.
“There has to be a transitional period,” said Kaasmann, a longtime electronics recycling industry stakeholder.
The move by the e-Stewards recycling certification program earlier this month to issue a warning about U.S. exports of e-plastics to Malaysia has kick-started conversations in the industry about the plastics conundrum. On the one hand, the Basel Convention was amended to place restrictions on such exports starting in 2021. On the other hand, there remains too little capacity in North America to clean up and recycle the materials. Meanwhile, stakeholders aren’t keen to see landfilling or burning of the materials, alternative disposition channels that raise costs for e-scrap processors.
E-Scrap News talked with a few stakeholders to get their thoughts on where the industry is likely to go from here, as well as to explain how the e-Stewards electronics recycling standard is making some changes to deal with market realities.
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