José Cayuela Avilés founded Grupo Ferromolins, which is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, in 1988 after more than 40 years of experience in the metals recycling sector. Under his leadership, Ferromolins prioritized continual improvement and innovation. That tradition continues today at the family-owned company under the leadership of his daughter, Lidia Cayuela Lopez, who serves as president.

Natalia Cruz Cayuela, Lidia’s daughter and José’s granddaughter, is the third generation of the family to work in the business. She joined Ferromolins two years ago and serves as purchasing and sales manager for ferrous and nonferrous metals.

Natalia says she grew up in the family business but sought additional education and experience outside Ferromolins before officially joining the company and helping to lead Ferromolins into its next decade. “I studied business administration, learning different languages and working in several companies, always in the international sales area, before joining Ferromolins.”

In her experience outside of her family’s company, Natalia says she learned that a good team is essential to a company’s success. “And that’s what I found when I joined the company.”

In addition to the well-established team, Natalia inherited her grandfather’s relationship-focused approach to business. “My grandfather used to say, ‘We want to build solid, long-lasting relationships with our customers.’”

Natalia also says Ferromolins is not afraid of failure, adding that the company understands it ultimately can lead to success, particularly today, when the pace of change necessitates quickly responding to suppliers’ and consumers’ new and evolving needs. “It’s important to fail often so that you can succeed sooner,” she says.

Modern methods

Ferromolins has modernized along with the larger scrap industry over the last three decades and considers itself a pioneering company within Spain’s ferrous and nonferrous recycling sector, Natalia says. Its recovery and recycling plants are equipped with modern infrastructure and next-generation technology to manage large volumes of material quickly.

The company operates six facilities. Its Barcelona headquarters focuses on processing aluminum and copper wires and cables. “We have three production lines working 24 hours per day with an average production of 1,200 metric tons per month of granules,” Natalia says.

Eduardo Zaldivar, purchasing manager, sales, nonferrous metals, says about two-thirds of this production is copper.

Ferromolins’ goal is to be “very productive and efficient in cable recovery,” Zaldivar says. He explains that the company can recover 99.9 percent of the copper wires and cables it processes using a dry process. “We don’t like the wet processes because of the water regulations,” he adds.

The company has plans to add a fourth wire processing line in Barcelona that will begin operating in 2021, Zaldivar says. The addition of that line will effectively triple Ferromolins’ nonferrous wire and cable processing capacity.

Much of Ferromolins’ wire chopping equipment is supplied by Eldan, based in Denmark, but its separation technology has been designed in-house, Zaldivar says. “Chopping is not the secret; separation is,” he adds.

Ferromolins’ other processing facilities are in Seville, Castellbisbal and Zaragoza, Spain. The company also operates logistical centers in Mallorca, Spain, and on the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa.

The company offers logistical services throughout Spain, the south of France and Portugal, Natalia says.

Wire processing accounts for roughly 90 percent of Ferromolins’ business. Its other services include dismantling and recycling transformers, condensers and electrical switches at its plant in Seville; ferrous and nonferrous scrap processing; and integrated management for scrapping and decommissioning of industrial plants, thermal power and hydropower plants, electricity substations and other industrial facilities throughout Spain and across Europe.

Ferromolins’ Seville location serves southern Spain and Portugal. “Besides ferrous and metal transformation, we have there located the PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) decontamination plant for electric devices,” Natalia says. “This process is unique and offered to the main electric distribution companies in south Europe,” she adds.

The Seville location employs a proprietary technology that Ferromolins developed to handle the PCBs in the transformer oil.

All the company’s processing facilities are equipped with shearing, packing and material handling equipment for ferrous and nonferrous scrap, Natalia says. “At the end of the process, a quality laboratory ensures the grades of all the products coming out of our six yards.”

Ferromolins says its commitment to the environment leads it to heavily invest in research and development. The company also has created an integrated quality, environmental and health and safety management system and has obtained ISO 45001, ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 registrations. It also complies with the European Union’s (EU) End of Waste criteria under EU333 (for iron, steel and aluminum scrap) and EU715 (for copper scrap), Natalia says. End-of-waste criteria specify when certain waste materials cease to be waste and become products or secondary raw materials.

A selective buyer

Natalia says Ferromolins is “focused on quality,” adding that 95 percent of the copper and aluminum chops it produces are considered “1A grade.” She explains, “To reach that goal, we are only sourcing directly from industrial rejects.”

High quality is the company’s overall goal for all the products it produces. “For Ferromolins, quality is a must,” Natalia says. “It is the only way to be in the market.”

She adds that all the company’s 80-plus employees are trained to understand that they each have roles to play in ensuring the quality of the products produced by Ferromolins.

The company sources scrap globally, though Natalia says the quality of the incoming material is more important than the country of origin. She adds, “[The] U.S. market is nowadays very important for us in the sourcing side.”

Ferromolins’ scrap purchasing is “driven by what we want to sell,” Zaldivar says.

On the aluminum side, he says the company’s output competes with primary aluminum ingot, while on the copper side, it rivals copper cathode.

Zaldivar says Ferromolins also has been importing scrap from Morocco and South America for processing. “What we offered locally was much appreciated by the market worldwide,” he says of Ferromolins’ scrap processing and logistics capabilities.

Marketing material

Ferromolins’ prepared scrap is sold globally, Natalia says, though “a great part of our sales is Europe based.”

Roughly five years ago, Ferromolins made an effort to internationalize its scrap marketing, says Zaldivar. That led to the company selling nearly 80 percent of its prepared copper and 100 percent of its aluminum internationally.

Despite the quality of the products Ferromolins produces, movement and pricing have been challenged in recent years given China’s restrictions on scrap imports and their effect on global trade, Natalia says. “There is strong stress on copper prices because of [the] global market situation, and secondary aluminum is also very affected locally because of low demand [from] the local automotive industry,” she says.

“From my point of view, final consumers of recycled materials demand more and more homogeneous and high-grade qualities,” Natalia continues, which means the recycling industry must make investments to meet those requirements. However, she adds, “Secondary materials are essential to industry’s survival.”

Despite this, Natalia says, “Now are confusing times for volume forecasts and pricing” for recycled metals.

That already confusing situation has been further affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, which has begun to disrupt industrial supply chains as of mid-March. Prior to the outbreak, automotive demand in Europe was low, she says, and the pandemic has the potential to worsen the situation as European carmakers temporarily cease production in response to the global health crisis.

CNN reports that three of Europe’s largest automakers, Fiat Chrysler, PSA Group and Renault, are closing 35 manufacturing plants across Europe in response to regional and national authorities’ imposition of restrictions on travel and public life, CNN says.

Even before the closures, the European automotive sector had been heading for a third consecutive year of falling sales.

The overall effect of these changes on Ferromolins and the scrap processing sector at large has been a tightening of margins. Natalia says the company is responding the only way it knows how, by focusing on quality and productivity. “We are very confident in the future on that side since our plan for company growth is very organic and adjusted to the present situation. We have built a very professional team that assures the viability of our product based on technology, skills and service.”

The author is editor of Recycling Today and can be contacted at dtoto@gie.net.

The 50th anniversary of Earth Day is ideal for bringing your recycling communications in line with best practices.

In 1970, consumers were exposed to 500 media messages daily on average. Today, that number exceeds 5,000. Using custom data to develop personalized strategic communications and tailoring a powerful recycling message with a multimodal strategy can make positive behavior change a possibility for local recycling programs.

Start with research

The city of Lakeland, Florida, has a respectable recycling participation rate averaging 76 percent; however, the contamination rate is nearly 20 percent. Some of the contamination can be attributed to eager residents who believe certain materials/items are recyclable, even if they are not currently accepted in the curbside bin. The city knew it needed an innovative approach to combat this “wishcycling,” so it worked with Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), Ann Arbor, Michigan, to launch a strategic communications campaign.

The first step was to gather information. RRS interviewed drivers, supervisors, material recovery facility (MRF) partners and frontline customer service staff from several city departments, including the solid waste and recycling department. Ride-alongs in recycling and solid waste vehicles serving residents were conducted to gain insight into common complaints and compliments about the program from key internal stakeholders. Additionally, data from a recent MRF recycling composition study determined the top contaminants: plastic bags/film, clothing, foam packaging and yard waste.

Then it was time to hear residents’ perspectives. According to a survey of 1,644 residents, 29 percent said confusion about what is recyclable was the biggest barrier to recycling. A secondary barrier was department branding. Lakeland residents had difficulty distinguishing services provided by the city from those provided by a neighboring county.

“Research was really important to us in embarking on this campaign,” says Gene Ginn, Lakeland solid waste and recycling manager.

Photo courtesy of Lakeland, Florida

The same survey revealed 38 percent of residents agreed a communication campaign was the best method to combat recycling uncertainty.

For various reasons, some communications campaigns may not have the luxury of precampaign resident surveys. For example, the city of Louisville, Kentucky, first launched a recycling campaign for the metro service area featuring acceptable foodservice packaging items. As part of the Foodservice Packaging Institute’s (FPI’s) Community Partnership program, the city used baseline information, such as contamination rate, website traffic and the number of searches to its new What Goes Where app to develop a plan and set measurable goals for its 2019 campaign.

Denver added paper cups to its recycling program in November 2018 in partnership with the FPI. In early 2019, Denver Recycles, the division of Denver Public Works that manages recycling and composting, sent a direct-mail postcard to 181,000 single-family homes explaining how to recycle paper cups and encouraging residents to complete an online survey about their current behavior when recycling paper cups. With 556 resident responses, the survey found that 89 percent self-identified as regular recyclers, though 44 percent had been recycling paper cups before the media announcement. When asked about how to prepare the cups for recycling, most respondents knew to discard lids and straws.

“I think we make assumptions about what our residents are doing or what they understand about our program,” says Courtney Cotton of Denver Recycles. “The reality is that you don’t know until you ask them.”

Get there by planning

In the planning stages, use your research to set measurable goals, plan the tactical elements of your outreach and evaluate your campaign to ensure the desired communication outcomes align with the intended operational successes.

When Louisville refreshed its digital communications campaign for foodservice packaging in its accepted materials list, the city needed a way to measure not only the material collection improvements but also communication improvements. The city set goals to increase traffic to its What Goes Where app by 10 percent within the first year of the launch, to reach 200 views of a recycling education video within three months of release and to decrease contamination by 2 percent.

Lakeland set goals to reduce contamination within the first six to 12 months and the number of phone calls to the city by driving traffic to the program website and to decrease the number of bagged recyclables and film in curbside containers.

Once research is completed and goals are set, now it is time to decide how to get there.

Lakeland saw the need to create a new brand and message that distinguished itself from the neighboring county, helped to reduce contamination and reinforced the overarching themes that residents said they valued in their survey responses.

“Making a difference by recycling is something our resident’s value, and they can make the biggest difference when recycling the right items in their blue cart each week,” Ginn says.

Lakeland’s message focuses on the rebranded Every Blue Cart Makes a Difference campaign and Bag-Free Recycling initiative that seek to encourage residents to recycle paper; flattened cardboard; and metal, plastic and glass bottles and containers—loose in their blue recycling cart.

Past recycling communications focused on an exhaustive list of prohibitives. Today’s recyclers seek quick visual messages. Lakeland’s research pinpointed the top contaminants and focused on foam, bags/film, batteries and clothes.

Ready, set, implement

A mixture of tried-and-true tactics and modern measurable digital outreach can lead to noteworthy outcomes. Lakeland’s campaign kicked off Nov. 1, 2019, with a media segment in celebration of America Recycles Day and will continue throughout 2020, introducing the recycling program “face-lift.” Lakeland plans to participate in more than 40 events annually, providing flyers, magnets, pop-up banners, branded tablecloths and giveaways to reinforce a consistent recycling message to an estimated 51,000 attendees.

Lakeland’s outreach included collateral reaching residents on several platforms. The outreach toolbox included a rebranded logo and tagline, partnering with the city’s communications and marketing department for a website refresh, social media posts and seasonal “naughty and nice” items via recycling video shorts. Moving billboards tout its Bag-Free Recycling campaign and a direct-mail contest using community-based social marketing tactics is planned.

Louisville launched a two-month digital campaign reminding residents to recycle empty cups and takeout containers. Digital advertisements drove traffic to the What Goes Where app and to a new bilingual video on the city’s website. Recycling representatives participated in school and public events with redesigned flyers.

Measure success

Behavior change isn’t always easy to measure. With the proper planning and a laser focus on specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based (SMART) goals, behavior change can be quantified.

Denver Recycles will compare data from the surveys conducted early in the campaign with those from a postcampaign survey to continue to learn about current overall recycling behaviors, the most effective communications methods to reach Denver households and how closely residents are following recycling instructions. Program staff can adjust their outreach for the next round of recycling communications to have an even more customized approach that will connect with residents.

Karen Maynard, Louisville recycling manager, says, “There are so many moving parts and communication components from staff to MRF to residents that have to work together to keep recycling participation up and contamination down—it’s never just one and done,” Maynard says.

Louisville’s communications in the ad campaign refresh surpassed its anticipated 10 percent increase in online searches with an astounding 45 percent increase in searches using the Recycle Coach app, during the city’s two-month digital media advertising campaign to mid-February. The video, which was launched with a target of 200 views during the campaign period, garnered more than 14,000 views in English, and more than 2,000 views for the Spanish version. When goals exceed expectations to such a degree, it is best to reevaluate your percent of change for your next campaign launch.

If you have goals for your recycling program, such as increasing participation or decreasing contamination, consider how an investment in your outreach could take your program’s performance to the next level. Then build a strategic communications campaign, using research, planning, implementation and evaluation to achieve, and even exceed, those goals. That is SMART recycling communication for the present and future.

Marissa Segundo is a consultant with Resource Recycling Systems (RRS), Ann Arbor, Michigan, with more than 10 years in strategic planning, media relations and team leadership. Email her at msegundo@recycle.com.

India’s economy in much of the 21st century has been a story of growth, development and success. Its steady gross domestic product (GDP) growth has included quickly rising numbers when it comes to the output of steel, stainless steel, aluminum and red metal alloys.

The nation, however, is not considered to have mined output or a sufficient scrap reservoir to produce the necessary metal units within its own borders to feed its furnaces, smelters and refineries.

For scrap-surplus nations, this has provided an opportunity. That opportunity is not unfettered, however, as Indian political parties and government agencies can look at an import need as a trade deficit issue or an economic weakness.

Those views—along with safety concerns surrounding traces of radioactivity or live ammunition in scrap and the fear of India being a “dumping ground” for the discarded materials of other nations—have resulted in an intermittent tug of war between the government and metals producing companies.

These competing interests provided the topic for much of the discussion at the 7th Annual International Indian Material Recycling Conference hosted by the Material Recycling Association of India (MRAI) at the Hotel Hyatt Regency Gurgaon near New Delhi in February.

Internal hopes, external needs

Presenters on the steel and ferrous scrap sector at MRAI, including one from India’s Ministry of Steel, were unanimous in saying the nation’s government is paying close attention to boosting scrap collection and processing within the nation, including how end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) are handled. That was coupled, nonetheless, with predictions that imported scrap will still play a role in steel production.

Sujeet Samaddar of New Delhi-based Samaddar Consulting said India is importing at least 4 million metric tons of ferrous scrap annually, but he predicted “that number will easily double” in the next 11 or 12 years. He said India will soon take second place behind Turkey in terms of global ferrous scrap importers.

Samaddar and other MRAI speakers added that much of India’s opportunity to gather ferrous scrap domestically lies in the greater generation of ELVs and appliances that is beginning to take place.

Sanjay Mehta of manufacturing conglomerate MTC Group said “organized or formalized scrap collectors in this country who are capitalized well” are lacking. He added that the metal recycling rate and industry standards could be improved if informal recyclers were recognized by the Indian government.

In addition to recycling that goes undocumented, Mehta speculated that “at least 30 percent of scrap [metal] is lying in waste bins.” He said informal sector tracking and a government education program on the value of scrap metal were “small hurdles that can be taken care of by policy.”

Ruchika Chaudhry of India’s Ministry of Steel said production forecasts mean demand for imported scrap and domestic scrap are likely to grow. She said the ministry is studying how to modernize the scrap industry “to ensure that scrapping is done in an environmentally friendly way and in the most efficient manner possible.”

That effort includes “the government taking up rules to make scrapping centers more organized to facilitate more capital investment, including shredders,” Chaudhry said. “This needs to happen in the very near future; this is the only way we can ensure quality scrap.”

As of 2020 on the ELV front, Samaddar said, “A lot of useful material that is lying on the road needs to be brought back into the economy.” He said progress needs to be made “at the collection center level, at the depollution, dismantling level [and] at the materials recycling level.” All this, he added, “might take some time.”

On a recent trip to Japan, Samaddar said he saw 50-acre facilities that could create clean, foundry-grade scrap materials all on one large site.

“We should aspire to meet and better those standards,” he said. However, Samaddar added, “To find that land from government sources or the private sector is, believe me, a big, big challenge.”

Panelist Robin Wiener, the president of the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), described India’s opportunity to establish new rules and policies as “exciting,” adding that the MRAI, the Indian government and private sector leaders are wise to “plan for the future because it comes very quickly.”

Wiener said it is important for the MRAI to dialog with automakers “to find out what’s in that car, so there are no surprises [such as toxic materials] when recycling that car.”

She said the words used by recyclers and policymakers are important, adding that it is “critical for governments to recognize what you do and also what you’re not.” A key point, Wiener said, is “scrap is not waste but a critical resource for the circular economy.” MRAI members are not involved in waste management, she added, “and to have that distinction is critical.”

In terms of lessons to be learned from the United States, Wiener pointed to the recycling equipment depreciation tax credit as a policy that can help Indian recyclers invest in helpful technology. She also urged them to trade based on ISRI specifications and urged Indians to be involved in updating the specs, which she called “a living document.”

Keeping aluminum moving at high speed

Aluminum producers and recyclers in India have encountered several regulatory, taxation and pricing barriers in the past few years, but panelists at MRAI sessions indicated the sector remains committed to higher volumes of recycling.

Mohan Agarwal, managing director of Faridabad, India-based Century Metal Recycling Ltd., said his company’s expansion plans “have not really been affected” by a recent government ministry’s consideration to double the duty on imported aluminum scrap. Century is one of the largest consumers of aluminum scrap in India. “Scrap is the future, and [so is] recycling,” he told MRAI delegates.

Agarwal expressed hope that secondary producers such as Century and India’s primary aluminum producers could “coexist,” despite recent lobbying by primary producers to increase the scrap import duty.

Of inbound scrap quality, he said, while it “can always be made better,” the material already was preprocessed and not an environmental threat. “This is not waste which is coming, it is really recyclable scrap that is coming into the country,” Agarwal added.

Anil Agarwal of primary producer Jindal Aluminium Ltd., headquartered in Bengaluru, India, and one of Mohan Agarwal’s fellow panelists at an MRAI session, said the primary industry also pays duties on its imported inputs, and this is what “allowed the secondary producers to grow in the country” in the past two decades.

Anil Agarwal said primary producers don’t object to the import of scrap, but he contended that an increased import duty on it would help create a more level playing field between primary and secondary producers in India.

A panelist from the Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development & Design Centre (JNARDDC) in Nagpur, India, said JNARDDC studies point to the growth of India’s vehicle sector as requiring increasing amounts of secondary aluminum alloys. This, in turn, means India will need more imported aluminum scrap even if it is able to generate more scrap within its own borders.

The JNARDDC researcher said the vehicle sector consumes from 60 percent to 70 percent of the secondary aluminum produced in India. He said the two sectors working together “presents a good example” of a circular economy loop being put in place.

Panelist Doug Kramer of Los Angeles-based Spectrum Alloys LLC said China’s massive rise in aluminum production had made profitability “increasingly difficult” for aluminum producers in the U.S. and elsewhere. In the U.S., where aluminum scrap is generated in abundance, he added, many producers in the past 20 years have turned to using more scrap.

Kramer added that even with its reclassification of some scrap metal as a resource, China’s consumers and its government will continue to demand high-purity scrap, which will favor recyclers who pay attention to quality.

Century Metal Recycling’s Mohan Agarwal said China’s reclassification occurred “because they realize scrap is so important, and they should not have any restrictions on the free flow of it.” The change will help Chinese secondary producers—and possibly raise aluminum scrap prices—he said.

Mohan Agarwal added, however, that “a lot of loss of trust” may have occurred between Chinese buyers and recyclers around the world because of the suddenly shifting regulations and procedures there in the last few years. “I expect some customers who did shift away from China will remain” active in India’s market, he said.

The outlook at the 2020 MRAI meeting seemed unanimous: As long as India’s economy and vehicle market hold steady or grow, metals producers are likely to need imported scrap metal for the foreseeable future.

The author is senior editor with the Recycling Today Media Group and can be contacted at btaylor@gie.net.

The Electronics Reuse & Recycling Alliance (TERRA), headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, is the brainchild of sales and marketing veteran Steven Napoli. He was inspired to create the alliance of certified facilities after learning more about Nashville-based R2- (Responsible Recycling-) certified electronics recycler Tri-Star Recycling LLC. A former colleague of Napoli’s led that company, and he began to consider the marketing challenges the business faced.

“There’s probably about 900 e-Stewards- and R2-certified recyclers nationwide,” Napoli says. “When I started researching, I didn’t see any news about these organizations or why certified electronics recyclers were important. I thought, ‘This industry has a sales and marketing problem.’”

With 25 years of sales and marketing experience, Napoli says he created TERRA to help certified e-scrap recyclers and information technology asset disposition (ITAD) firms bring awareness to the industry, build their businesses and “bring them together in ways that might open some opportunities for smaller companies that have [a] certain geographic reach.”

Napoli continues, “Having spent several months calling and talking to certified recyclers, I learned the certification agencies themselves are nonprofits. They are managing the actual certification process. They aren’t really geared to be marketing organizations.”

By joining an alliance of certified recyclers, he says, these operations “could be more competitive. They could get their message out there. It just seemed like an opportunity this industry was missing.”

Forming the alliance

In March 2019, Napoli created TERRA, first focusing on “testing some ideas and potential programs we might be able to roll out” with Tri-Star Recycling in Nashville. That’s how TERRA’s mail-in electronics recycling program, Done with IT, was created. The program allows businesses and individuals to purchase a box and shipping label, pack the box with their used electronics and ship it to a certified recycling facility within TERRA’s network.

“We knew from a logistics standpoint, you can’t just have one facility,” Napoli says. “Shipping costs increase the farther you get from the facility. Our strategy was to have multiple partners nationwide, so we can string together this alliance of recyclers working together in common cause.”

TERRA has grown from one certified facility to 23 certified facilities nationwide, covering a service area from Southern California to New Jersey and Florida to Portland, Oregon. Following Tri-Star Recycling, Infinite Electronics Recycling LLC, Wintersville, Ohio, was the next to join. American Recycling, Lincoln, Nebraska; Cobalt, Middletown, Ohio; Corporate eWaste Solutions, Brea, California; Far West Metals, Tualatin, Oregon; Omega Recycling Solutions, Jackson, Tennessee; Newtech Recycling Inc., Franklin Township, New Jersey; and Sadoff E-Recycling & Data Destruction, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, joined shortly thereafter.

“We’re starting to create a really viable network of certified recyclers that are going to be positioned to not only advocate [for] and talk about the industry in a different way but elevate it beyond Fortune 1,000 companies that already by best practices use a certified recycler for their material,” Napoli says. “I’m encouraged by the number of certified recyclers that see the value of marketing what they do and expanding [recycling] opportunities to areas, especially underserved communities that are recycling deserts, with our Done with IT program.”

“The benefit of TERRA is being able to provide accessibility and that confidence that data is being handled responsibly and not ending up in the landfill.” – Steven Napoli, president and CEO, TERRA

With TERRA’s network of 23 certified facilities, Done with IT now serves more than 246 million people in 41 states. The program offers boxes that can accommodate 10, 20 and 70 pounds of electronics, which businesses and individuals can purchase to ship their end-of-life devices to certified recyclers for recycling and refurbishment. The ZIP code of the shipper determines which TERRA member receives the material for processing, Napoli says.

TERRA also has rolled out programs just for phones, tablets and laptops and even offers options for on-site data destruction, collection event scheduling and collection services.

Done with IT already has attracted larger corporations, including Target.

“We were invited by Target to have our membership provide information for consideration to be their e-scrap and ITAD service provider,” Napoli says. “They came to us because we have this large network. For businesses that are geographically diverse, we can be a one-stop shop for them in terms of engaging with certified recyclers.

“For our members, a lot of certified recyclers are small businesses. We’re giving them the opportunity be part of something larger and collaborate. If they’re located in Nashville and have clientele in Philadelphia, they can contact a TERRA member in Ohio and work out a deal. Those are the kind of relationships we’re building. We’re getting these folks to work together rather than independently and build value for this industry.”

Photo courtesy of TERRA

Increasing transparency

Sadoff E-Recycling & Data Destruction operates seven e-recycling drop-off facilities and two R2-certified processing facilities in Oshkosh and in La Vista, Nebraska.

One of the biggest overarching challenges in the electronics recycling sector is transparency, Jason Lasky, executive vice president at Sadoff, says, which is why certified operators are so important.

He adds, “I think transparency has always been an issue, and some of these certification agencies, like R2 and e-Stewards, are trying to reduce that because you need to know where these materials are going in order to know they’re being handled responsibly.”

As Lasky watched more recyclers join TERRA, he says the exclusivity of the Done with IT program as well as the marketing opportunity was appealing enough to become a member.

“Basically, you can lock in a region where you’re doing business,” he says. “It’s a first-come, first-serve opportunity to lock down some of the territories.”

Lasky says the larger reason Sadoff joined the program was to promote certified electronics recycling.

“In the world of data and used electronics that contain sensitive information, I think it’s important for people to understand there are people in their corner to help them with solutions,” he says.

“Our customers are being educated to ask better questions of us, which is a very positive thing,” Lasky adds. “We don’t want them to go to someone that’s not certified. If something happens, it affects the whole industry. This supports and encourages companies to want to be a part of doing things right.”

Growth potential

While TERRA and Done with IT are still growing and face challenges, such as the cost of shipping, the alliance has the potential to make an impact on the industry, Napoli says. For example, TERRA is launching Done with IT across schools in Nashville. It also offers what Napoli calls a Sustainer membership, which allows the businesses that use the services of TERRA members to offer their employees a discount code to recycle their personal electronics through the program. Additionally, Community members, which are city/county governments, chambers of commerce and other civic and environmental organizations, can extend a 10 percent discount to their residents and members who use Done with IT.

“It’s a great way for our recyclers that do community collection events to extend it beyond the one day they are there,” Napoli says of the discount.

“There’s challenges TERRA is going to have to overcome in high-density areas where recycling is easily accessible. ... [B]ut I think this type of program can help increase accessibility in rural areas,” Lasky says. “The benefit of TERRA is being able to provide accessibility and that confidence that data is being handled responsibly and not ending up in the landfill.”

The author was the digital editor for the Recycling Today Media Group.