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Analysis of End Markets for Collected Minnesota Household E-Waste

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Analysis of End Markets for Collected Minnesota Household E-Waste Analysis of End Markets for Collected Minnesota Household E-Waste Prepared For: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Date: 06-28-13 Submitted By: Greeneye Partners LLC. Reclay StewardEdge Inc. w-gen2-09 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................3 1.1 Background to the Project ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Aims and Objectives of the Project ........................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Structure of the Report ............................................................................................................................. 3 2. APPROACH .....................................................................................................................................4 2.1 Goals .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Survey of Recyclers .................................................................................................................................... 4 2.3 Survey Questionnaire ................................................................................................................................ 5 2.4 Response to the Survey ............................................................................................................................. 5 3. MARKET TRENDS ............................................................................................................................6 3.1 General Industry Trends for Consumer Electronics .................................................................................. 6 3.2 E-Waste Recycling Certifications ............................................................................................................... 9 4. SURVEY RESPONDENTS’ PROCESS METHODOLOGY ....................................................................... 11 4.1 E-Waste Recycling and Recovery ............................................................................................................. 11 4.2 Downstream Processing versus On-Site Processing /Dismantling .......................................................... 13 4.3 Remarketed versus Recycled ................................................................................................................... 14 5. HAZARDOUS AND NON-HAZARDOUS MATERIALS ......................................................................... 15 5.1 Hazardous Materials ................................................................................................................................ 16 5.2 Non-Hazardous Materials ........................................................................................................................ 33 6. OBSERVATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 40 7. REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................. 42 1 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Percentage of Household E-Waste Remarketed vs. Recycled ...................................................... 14 Table 2: E-Waste Material Breakdown ....................................................................................................... 15 Table 3: Precious Metal Refining Companies ............................................................................................. 18 Table 4: Circuit Board Categories ................................................................................................................ 18 Table 5: Sample of CRT Glass Recyclers in the United States ..................................................................... 24 Table 6: Mercury Retort Facilities ............................................................................................................... 28 Table 7: US Battery Sorting Facilities .......................................................................................................... 30 Table 8: US Battery Recycling Facilities ....................................................................................................... 30 Table 9: Processing Methods and End Markets for Batteries ..................................................................... 31 Table 10: North American Reclaimers and Brokers of E-Waste Plastic ...................................................... 35 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: PY5 Minnesota Recycler Certification Status ............................................................................... 10 Figure 2: Weight Processed by PY5 Recycler Type ..................................................................................... 10 Figure 3: General Treatment Flow of Household E-Waste in Minnesota ................................................... 11 Figure 4: Final Known Destinations of Hazardous Material Types ............................................................. 12 Figure 5: Final Known Destinations of Non-Hazardous Material Types ..................................................... 12 Figure 6: Percentage of respondents who shipped e-waste Whole vs. Dismantled On-Site ..................... 13 Figure 7: Survey Results for Circuit Boards ................................................................................................. 17 Figure 8: Survey Results for CRT Televisions & Glass .................................................................................. 21 Figure 9: Diagram of LCD Display Device .................................................................................................... 25 Figure 10: Survey Results for Fluorescent Tubes ........................................................................................ 27 Figure 11: Survey Results for Batteries ....................................................................................................... 29 Figure 12: Survey Results for Plastics .......................................................................................................... 33 Figure 13: Survey Results for Wood ............................................................................................................ 36 2 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Project Greeneye Partners and Reclay StewardEdge Inc. responded to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) request for proposal (RFP) titled “CR 5544 E-Waste Analysis” to conduct a third-party analysis of the end markets for collected Minnesota household e-waste. The information provided within this report provides the findings from this third-party analysis. The observations from this analysis can be used by the MPCA e-waste program to gain a better understanding of where collected e-waste is flowing for recycling and management and to help to determine if end markets are handling the e-waste materials responsibly. 1.2 Aims and Objectives of the Project The aim of this analysis was to gain a better understanding of the following: · The flow of Minnesota household collected e-waste within the State; · How collected e-waste was being dismantled/processed for recycling; · How various components of collected household e-waste are being handled and processed; · The final disposition of collected household e-waste components that are being reported as recycled. 1.3 Structure of the Report The remainder of this report is structured as follows: · Part 2: The approach to the project; · Part 3: General market trends; · Part 4: How material is handled by survey respondents; · Part 5: Discussion of Hazardous and Non-hazardous materials by category, including survey results and commodity markets; · Part 6: Observations from the analysis; · Part 7: References. 3 2. APPROACH 2.1 Goals The goal of this project was to provide the State of Minnesota with valuable data on the end markets of collected Minnesota household e-waste. This data has significant implications for environmental protection as it can be used to support the responsible handling of household e-waste. The data collected has helped to answer the following questions within this report: · Where are the hazardous components [e.g. cathode ray tube (CRTs), mercury containing equipment, circuit boards, etc.] of household e-waste going for further processing? · Where are non-hazardous components (e.g. metals, plastics, wood, etc.) of household e-waste going for further processing? · What are the final end uses being produced from components of e-waste? · What are the economics within the various commodity markets? · What components are not being recovered for recycling, but could be, to highlight market development needs? To collect this data a two-prong approach was undertaken which consisted of: · An online survey, with telephone follow-up where necessary, targeting all PY5 registered Recyclers;i · Desk-based research on end markets for e-waste components. Due to commercial confidentiality, the names of the Recyclers that responded to the survey as well as the downstream vendor names and their locations that were reported in the survey will not be stated in this report. 2.2 Survey of Recyclers The project team designed and sent an online survey by email in December 2012, which encouraged participants to complete the survey by December 14, 2012. Two reminder emails
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