Connecticut’s statewide recycling program has helped e-recycling firms avoid major issues facing the industry, particularly as their revenues dip with the fall of worldwide commodity prices.
The state program, in its second year, requires original equipment manufacturers to handle the end-use of their electronic products.
This law has been particularly effective in helping e-recycling firms handle the old style televisions — cathode ray tubes, or CRTs — that are quickly being replaced by flat-panel TVs. In other states and nations where manufacturers don’t handle the CRTs, e-recyclers are stockpiling these old TVs because the cost of dismantling the set for the basic materials isn’t profitable. These stockpiles then create environmental hazards as parts of the CRTs are toxic.
In Connecticut, though, CRTs are not a problem, because e-recyclers get paid by the OEMs to collect the old televisions.
“It is a really great program. It is super,” said Joe Galiatsatos, president and chief executive of Green Monster e-Cycling in West Hartford.
These manufacturer requirements help Connecticut e-recyclers remain buoyant through the current tough economic climate, as the worldwide price of commodities from recycled electronics — especially gold — has dipped to their lowest levels since 2008.
“It is all tanking right now,” Galiatsatos said. “We had to deal with this back in 2008, and now we have to get the word out there and get more people recycling.”
Gold is a key conductive part of electronic circuit boards and wiring, and e-recyclers had gained from the worldwide spike in prices to all-time highs. However, the worldwide commodity price of gold dropped below $1,350 per ounce in April as the Mediterranean country of Cyprus considers selling off its gold supply.
“The price of gold has tanked,” said Desarae Bartone, owner of AFA Electronic Recyclers in Madison.
AFA, which Bartone founded in September, doesn’t have certification yet for CRT televisions, so the company is trying to make up revenue in other materials and differentiate from competitors by offering services such as free business pickup.
“We really get a wide range of things,” Bartone said.
The early results of Connecticut’s program are showing an uptick in e-recycling, which will hopefully grow the industry in the state, said Mark Latham, environmental analyst at the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and lead on the statewide recycling program.
From February 2011 to February 2012, Connecticut recycled 9.7 million pounds of electronics, an increase from the previous year and showing the first few months of the statewide program, which started in 2012, have positive results, Latham said.
Because of the increase, the seven state-approved e-recyclers expect to add 160 jobs by the end of the year, including 75 in Connecticut.
However, the state would like to see larger growth within its borders, as shipping electronics to be dismantled in other states makes the process more environmentally harmful, Latham said. Although each of the seven state-approved e-recyclers has a Connecticut presence, none is headquartered in the state.
“We would like to have more folks dismantle the material and process the material in the state,” Latham said.
E-recycling will pick up in the coming months in Connecticut, said Galiatsatos, as more schools and nonprofits have drives and collections for fundraising. “That happens a lot this time of year,” Galiatsatos said.
As an extension of Earth Day on April 22, Hartford nonprofit GreenShare Technology, which relocated to the city from Farmington, is having a collection from 9 a.m. to noon on April 27 at its new office on Park Street in Hartford to raise money for its programs.
“One a year, we hold a great drive to get people to get their electronics out, and Earth Day is the perfect day to do it,” said Brenda Stiegman, executive director for GreenShare.
In addition to recycling electronics, GreenShare repurposes the usable computers, which make up about 10 percent of those donated — and provides them to low-income Connecticut residents.
Being new to Hartford, Stiegman doesn’t know how much electronics will be donated on April 27 but is aiming for 15,000 to 30,000 pounds, which would be average compared to the nonprofit’s other drives.
“Our goal is to keep all electronics out of the landfills that we can,” Stiegman said. “We are new to Hartford and hope the new location brings out the computers.”
Electronics recycling seems driven by awareness of the industry, Bartone said. AFA’s best months came after the company was profiled in the Shoreline Times newspaper, and when the e-recycler held a drive at Old Saybrook High School.
Today, most of AFA’s business comes from residential customers. Bartone hopes to increase awareness from commercial and industrial customers after displaying at the Connecticut Business Expo June 6 in Hartford.
“We are hoping that will bring some more business,” Bartone said.
DEEP also is trying to raise awareness of the industry by having e-recycling drop-off locations for all 169 state municipalities, where the approved recyclers pick up and are paid by the manufacturers.
“OEMs are paying for that responsible recycling,” Latham said.
