This year thousands gathered from across the globe for the 15th annual E-Scrap Conference. As one of the largest shows for the electronics recycling industry, attendees were eager to network with one another and discuss e-recycling industry issues, topics and trends. This year’s conference was held at the Omni Orlando Resort at Championsgate from September 18-20.

It came as no surprise the opening panel session focused heavily on IT asset disposition (ITAD) as the industry continues to expand beyond traditional end-of-life electronics recycling. This topic continued to dominate conversations and sessions throughout the conference and is becoming a critical consideration for recyclers who do not offer these types of services.

Throughout the conference you could feel the energy of the attendees, hosts and staff making it another successful year. Here is an outline of our team’s key takeaways:

  • Recycling companies may want to consider rebranding to communicate their ITAD solutions. One workshop discussed rebranding strategies for companies formerly focused on scrap recycling and are now entering the IT asset disposition service industry. Restructuring your brand image could help boost your company’s credibility and help clients feel more comfortable using their previous e-scrap provider for data security services.
  • Messaging is important for ITAD and recycling companies.
    As the industry changes, it is important to clearly communicate your services, both internally and externally, so you can help your clients maximize their solutions. For example, (if applicable) it would be a good idea to include these two messages within your communications efforts.

    1. Include your electronics reuse and refurbishment solutions as a part of your standard e-recycling services.
    2. Provide an understanding of market values for used electronic devices.
  • A new model legislation program is being created by manufacturers.
    Manufacturers are coming together to develop a model legislation program for the United States, similar to California’s cathode-ray tube (CRT) or Canada’s provincial legislation. They have hired researchers to create this model and it will involve “eco-fees” that are collected from consumers to an administrative body.
  • Abandoned CRTs is still an issue.
    The industry is still fighting CRT storage issues. State programs are being analyzed on how to handle monitoring and will be considering how the program can be structured to be more thorough.
  • Future e-waste will include more LCDs, and they are not profitable to dispose of.
    Some difficulties have been exposed for end-of-life recycling of LCD displays. The manual disassembly and hazardous waste elements of these devices are causing recyclers to request higher fees for the service. Clients are having a tough time understanding these disposition costs, leaving them unhappy with their recyclers. Discussions were focused on how to resolve this issue but no clear resolution was determined.

As in every conference, we had a long list of takeaways, some of which were extensions of discussions from last year’s conference. For additional details regarding the conference check out the recap posted in the E-Scrap News.

Looking for an ITAD or recycling vendor? Here’s an RFP template you can use to get started.