Corporate Strategy: Blancco Bets on the Drive, Not the Device, as It Chases a Recover-First IT Market

Blancco is rebuilding its business around the ‘drive’, not the device, betting that surging AI infrastructure and component scarcity are pushing ITAD from “destruct-first” to “recover-first.” The company’s new strategy centers on data-bearing drives, data center decommissioning, and mobile, positioning certified erasure and diagnostics as the backbone of a market where assets move fluidly between enterprises, processors, and secondary channels.

Metals and electronics recycling firms report stronger downstream trends

Recent earnings updates from Aurubis, Umicore and Sims Limited suggest that parts of the downstream metals and electronics recycling market remain comparatively healthy heading into the remainder of 2026. The companies cited supportive precious-metal and non-ferrous pricing, strong recycling activity levels, and continued demand for high-value secondary materials, even as they warned of ongoing pressure from feedstock tightness and volatile treatment charges.

Raised Aurubis guidance sends positive signal for circuit board and metals recovery markets

Aurubis raised its full-year earnings outlook after stronger second-quarter results driven in part by higher returns from recycling materials and precious metals. The company’s performance and ongoing recycling-capacity expansion projects in Germany and the U.S. are being closely watched by electronics recyclers and ITAD firms as indicators of downstream demand for complex e-scrap and recovered metals.