ISRI Unveils Preliminary Findings from 2011 Electronics Recycling Industry Survey

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) has released preliminary findings of a survey of the U.S. electronics recycling industry. The association released the survey, 2011 Electronics Recycling Industry Survey, during ISRI’s recently concluded national convention in Los Angeles.

The 2011 Electronics Recycling Industry Survey, which is supported through a grant from the Recycling Research Foundation, was conducted by International Data Corp. (IDC), an independent, global market research provider.

According to ISRI, the initial report finds that the United States is well-equipped and has the infrastructure to collect, manually repair and refurbish and mechanically process the rapidly increasing volume of used and end-of-life electronics equipment generated in the United States.

The survey also finds that the $5 billion-a-year industry and the U.S. market continue to be driven by commercially generated electronics scrap, and companies are embracing third-party certifications such as ISO 14001 and the U.S. EPA-sponsored Responsible Recycling (R2) program to distinguish their companies and improve their bottom lines.

ISRI worked with EPA, state governments, associations and other stakeholders to develop the R2 program.

The survey also finds that the domestic electronics recycling industry employs about 30,000 people. The survey also notes that while most electronics recyclers have fewer than 50 employees, most of the industry volume that is collected and processed is handled by a small number of larger companies.

ISRI also notes that the report contradicts a commonly held belief that rapidly changing residential and household consumer electronics are the source of most of the material for electronics recycling. In fact, the survey found that:

• Computer equipment represents the largest part of the equipment handled by the industry (about 60 percent by weight).
• Most of the industry volume (by weight) comes from businesses and commercial sources.
• The largest output of the industry is commodity grade scrap (representing about 60 percent of the volume by weight).

“The initial findings of this survey are very positive and reflect an industry that is growing rapidly, boosting our economy, creating jobs and playing a critical role in protecting our environment and supplying important commodities,” says Robin Wiener, ISRI president. “The report also makes very clear that businesses, government and other groups are the dominant force driving the U.S. electronics recycling market.”

The report finds that over the past five years the industrial volume of processed electronics has more than doubled, with the estimated volume presently at between 3million to 4 million tons, a significant increase from 2000 levels.

A total of 174 companies, including both for-profit and nonprofit firms, took part in the survey. Companies included electronics reuse, refurbishers and recyclers and traditional scrap recyclers that handle electronics and OEMs with electronics take-back programs.