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Recycling Today

Cases

MaSeR Helps e-Recycler Meet Environmentally Sound Management Requirements

The Opportunity
A large metals recycler in Ontario was under pressure from clients to recycle electronic scrap for them. In addition, the province was developing a directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment similar to the WEEE directive in the EU. In order to meet client requirements and Environmentally Sound Management standards of the upcoming WEEE directive, the company had to come up with a highly competitive, fully accountable, domestic recovery solution for e-scrap.

The Challenge
With its successful core business focused on metals recovery, the recycler did not want to get into full-scale demanufacturing of e-scrap. Brokering was also not an option since that would eliminate any competitive edge. How could they add value for their clients without immersing themselves into full scale in-house processing?

The Solution
The client designated an area within the plant for receipt and triage of e-scrap from clients. Here, monitors are separated and managed at an in-house recovery operation that was set up specifically for CRTs. Other e-scrap was put through a simple triage for removal of batteries, toner, and other materials not suitable for the MaSeR process. This process required minimal space and labor but enabled the recycler to move volumes of material through the facility for delivery to the MaSeR system quickly.

As volume increased, the recycler added a front-end shredding system to process materials even faster. Now, much of the plastic and steel is removed from the feedstock and MaSeR provides the final delamination and separation services for complete material recovery.

The Result
Happy customers now have access to a single source for their recycling needs. The metals recycler is also attracting an entire new set of clients for electronics recycling services. The company is now very well positioned to become a major processor of Ontario's WEEE scrap once the directive is finalized, having the ability to demonstrate a comprehensive and fully accountable electronic material recovery process.

MaSeR Helps e-Recycler Reduce Space & Labor Costs

The Opportunity
A recycler located in northeastern US had been in business for a number of years. He successfully grew his business from a small facility with a handful of workers into a much larger operation with dozens of workers. He enjoyed a very good reputation as an auditable, domestic processor of e-scrap and was ready to take his business to the next level.

The Challenge
What would taking his business to the next level look like and what were the risks? He grappled with what had been only two choices: Move again to yet and even larger facility and hire more people to process material or; invest in a shredder to process more material in less space with fewer people. Although the shredder concept intrigued him, he did not wish to take on investment capital and had concerns about the huge and immediate increase in volume he would need to make operating the shredder pay off.

The Solution
The recycler heard of a new facility in Barrie, ON where electronic scrap could be mechanically separated and upgraded to commodity grade metals and plastic called MaSeR Corporation. He contacted MaSeR and learned that MaSeR's recovery services could replace most of the manual demanufacturing he was employing on electronic scrap. He did a time study and determined that the returns he could get on his scrap by shipping to MaSeR exceeded the net returns he was getting after deducting his fully burdened labor costs from the revenues he received on demanufactured scrap components.

The Result
After only one month of converting his operation from full-scale demanufacturing to triaging¹ for the MaSeR process, the recycler sublet 20,000 square feet of his facility that was no longer needed and retrained 5 employees that had been doing demanufacturing to higher value functions.

¹ Equipment must be triaged for removal of non-processable components. See MaSeR's Material Acceptance Criteria for complete details.

MaSeR Provides Competitive Domestic Alternative to Export

The Opportunity
A North American company established itself in the late 1980's as a computer refurbisher and reseller. After a brisk and successful start, the market quickly changed and they began to receive more scrap than good, resalable equipment. With no desire to engage in the scrap recycling business, they found a number of export brokers willing to pay them for unwanted electronic scrap. This enabled them to continue to focus on their core expertise in refurbishment and resale while enjoying revenues from unwanted scrap.

The Challenge
As their business continued to grow, they took on larger and larger customers that were suddenly questioning what exactly was happening with their non-saleable scrap. The refurbisher realized that they themselves were unsure what the exporters were doing with the scrap. When they inquired, they continually hit dead ends. They began to realize they had no means of providing their customers with the required documentation. How could they grow to meet this need without losing site of their core business?

The Solution
The recycler learned that MaSeR provided complete material recovery services for electronic scrap right in North America. They also learned that MaSeR was the final stop where their scrap would be converted into commodity grade metals and plastic, eliminating any other downstream concerns. Rather than expand into full-scale scrap demanufacturing, they could do a quick sort and triage¹ on the scrap and ship to MaSeR for full recovery.

The Result
The recycler is now able to provide customers with complete cradle-to-grave documentation for all equipment shipped to them for recovery. And, since MaSeR only works with recyclers and not directly with generators, they are comfortable encouraging new and existing customers to audit MaSeR for complete accountability of their process. The company continues to focus on what they do best and still benefits from revenues on unwanted scrap.

¹ Equipment must be triaged for removal of non-processable components. See MaSeR's Material Acceptance Criteria for complete details.