Less premium smartphone inventory is reaching recyclers

Assurant’s latest mobile trade-in data shows that the best smartphones are being pulled into reuse and refurbishment channels sooner as the scrap stream is getting thinner and rougher, and value is moving upstream fast. For phone makers and their telco partners, the...

Top 5 reasons for the rise of US e-scrap recycling

American e-scrap and ITAD operators are being pushed, incrementally and through shock events, to manage more material domestically rather than rely on long, export-dependent flows. A combination of factors is making possible the creation of an urban mining industry,...

ERI enters Japan through joint venture with Itochu

US-based electronics recycler and IT asset disposition (ITAD) provider ERI has formed a 50-50 joint venture with Itochu Corporation to launch operations in Japan, the companies announced March 24. The new entity, ERI Japan, represents ERI’s first owned and branded...

Seized e-Waste in SE Asia: Return to Sender

Thailand’s recent seizure of suspected illegal e waste at Laem Chabang Port is the latest in a wave of enforcement actions across Southeast Asia that is reshaping how the region handles foreign electronic scrap, and raising the prospect that exporters face a...