The total value of the useful materials was estimated to be around €39,780 million. It was seen that only 65.12% of the total e-waste generated was worth recycling in order to arrive to this value. If similar trend continues, provided the prices of the metals are nearly same without much fluctuation, then it can be estimated that in 2021 the total value of the metals extracted from this e-waste would approximately amount to €50,900 million.
There are a lot of companies which base their business models on managing technology collection, refurbishment, recycling or remarketing and have existed for years. For example, eBay has managed a marketplace for collecting and redirecting up to $100 billion in hardware annually for at least a half-dozen years. The value of the secondary IT market is estimated at more than $300 billion.
Several factors have converged to stoke more interest in services for disposing of IT hardware at the end of its life, redistributing excess electronics inventory or collecting gadgets. Among them: the pace of innovation surrounding mobile technology, an OEM push to collect and reuse rare earth materials, the rise of formal corporate sustainability programs, and the shift among many big companies away from massive on-premises data centers to IT infrastructure and applications delivered by cloud service providers.
While all the big high-tech and electronics companies have been reducing the toxicity of their products — reducing or eliminating lead, cadmium, mercury and other hazardous materials — the other side effect of letting those assets go is that many companies are missing out on the chance to extract materials that still could have significant value. The two major labels to check if the company is managing its recycling and disassembly process responsibly are R2 Solutions, developed by a multi-stakeholder group in a process that was partially facilitated and funded by the EPA; and the e-Stewards certification, used by more than 50 major companies to guide disposal practices, including Wells Fargo Bank, Alcoa, Bank of America, Boeing, LG, Samsung and Bloomberg.
- Global E-waste Recycling Market
- Global E-waste Disposal Market
- Global E-waste Management Market
Here is a list of eight companies worth some attention who are unique in their own way of operation and are doing great:
1. Apto Solutions
Apto Solutions started in 2001, it is a R2-certified company which was termed as a "Visionary" on research firm Gartner's December "Magic Quadrant" report for IT asset disposition and disposal. It claims to help increase the recovery value of equipment by 50 to 80 percent. It is also a Microsoft-certified refurbisher.
2. CloudBlue Technologies
Cloubblue Technologies had a clientele base of nearly a 1,000 customers before being acquired by Ingram Micro in October, 2013. It is a R2- and e-Stewards-certified service provider and operates in more than 40 locations worldwide and serves around 140 countries.
3. Dataserv
Dataserv is a R2 and e-Stewards certified company and has been around for more than 30 years. It owns and operates 16 facilities and has the capability of serving more than 70 countries world- wide.
4. Arrow Value Recovery
The company manages 15 processing facilities in eight countries. It was the first company to move to earn e-Stewards global status for its operations from Basel Action Network.
5. ITRenew
ITRenew is located in Silicon Valley, Calif. One of the major differentiating factors for this company is its proprietary data sanitization software which is used to clear confidential data from hardware that it is managing. Its specialty is high-end enterprise technology found in data centers.
6. Recommerce Solutions
Recommerce Solutions was founded in 2009 and it is a provider of electronics remarketing and reconditioning services. It runs eight processing facilities majorly in Europe (France, Spain and Poland). Its customers are mainly telecommunications carriers, distributors, manufacturers and e-merchants.
7. REfficient
REfficient is a Canadian startup which uses an online marketplace platform to help telecommunications companies so as to harvest value from their surplus inventory. Its long-term vision it to divert 1 billion pounds of product from global landfills. In November 2013, it also added a service to cover mobile phones and tablet collection.
8. Sims Recycling Solutions
Sims was named as a leader for IT asset disposition in Gartner's December 2013 report. It has multiple facilities that have been certified to e-Stewards standards and runs 42 sites around the world.
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