It’s not glamorous, but it’s necessary: ensuring that your electronics recycler is giving you maximum business benefit and a fail-safe shield against irresponsible end-of-life treatment. Some of our clients have switched recyclers in recent years — with the looming threats of regulations and NGOs looking to expose examples — and others are issuing requests for proposals now.

What should you look for in your recycler? Most of TFI’s community members have global customers, so having global coverage is advantageous not only for ease of doing business but also to reduce the ridiculous expense and amounts of carbon emissions from shipping end-of-life or second-life product across oceans for “environmental benefit.” Plus, regulations in the wings will require responsible recycling in the region of the product’s use.

Also, find out the exact path of your specific products from when they leave yours or your customers’ premises through the time when they become raw materials available for another supply chain. Choose only those recyclers that accurately document product outcome and be wary of too many subcontracting relationships; with more than 2 degrees of separation it’s nearly impossible to ensure that the people actually treating your products are doing so responsibly. The defense, “But it wasn’t the recycler I hired who sent the products to the Ghana,” won’t count when photos capture brand-name products in tragic “digital dumps” there (where customers’ data are at risk as well.)

Finally, create additional revenue streams by designing your products and processes for responsible additional “lives.” Find a recycler excellent at triage — determining which of your once-used products are appropriate for refurbishment and data cleansing, warranty replacements, resale, or mining for workable sub-modules or valuable components. (This recommendation is sure to spark replies from people uncomfortable with selling second-hand electronics, though it is a common practice around the world and it should be done with full disclosure.)

If you want hundreds of times more insights on choosing and auditing electronics recyclers than space allows in this blog, come to the International Electronics Recycling Conference and Expo in San Francisco May 26-27 (at which I am keynote speaker, and several TFI clients are presenting).

Conference Director Ismail Oyekan said it well: “A huge majority amongst businesses of all sizes do not realize the liability, environmental impacts, and financial costs associated with improper electronics waste management. Electronics waste is now the fastest growing waste stream and information-technology asset managers, manufacturers, and others in the electronics supply chain can learn about the process of selecting a qualified electronics recyclers for their end-of-life and surplus assets.”

OK, who wants to comment about electronics reuse?

Posted by Pamela J. Gordon, April 23rd, 2010

Filed to Environment, Lean Practices, Logistics, Supply chain management

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