American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Electronics Recycling Exports:

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Robin IngenthronPresident, American Retroworks Inc.VP, ElectroniCycle Inc.

NAHMMA 2002 – Dallas, Texas

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Introduction: the CRT Monitor

• US DEMAND – 50 million monitors per year• Highest grades of copper• % Made in Asia rising every year• Prices fall every year, but monitors are more steady than CPUs

Consumer preference, not obsolescence is driving the market

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Electronics is fastest growing % of MSW

• Fastest growing component of US Solid Waste stream since 1990: computer waste

• Number of TVs destined for obsolescence in 2007: 750,000,000• TV repair employment 1980: 100,000+ (NESDA members)• TV repair employment 2000: 39,000 • TV repair employment, projected for 2010: 19,000

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Why is domestic electronics recycling expensive?

• Demanufacturing labor (75 monitors per FTE/day)• Scrap value – copper, leaded prices in 1872 dollars have

fallen 100 fold (steel, alumimum, plastic also down)

• Reuse/Repair rate 25%• American consumer demand is fickle… 14” monitors

might as well be B&W

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Labor cost to product value

-2000

-1500

-1000

-500

0

500

1000

1500

Demanufacturing

Repair

Scrap handling

Copper revenue

Plastic revenue

Other metal revenue

Avoided disposal

250 monitor resale

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Why scrap value is low? Mining is cheap! Percentage of gold, copper, silver, lead ores production from federal lands: 95% Estimated Cost of Superfund cleanups to US EPA - $10B Number of 15 largest EPA Superfund Sites which are copper/lead/gold mines: 14 % of all toxic emissions from all US Industries attributed to hard- rock mining: 47% Projected Bureau of Land Management revenues from mineral royalties and leases: $300,000 Federal Employees managing mineral leases: 339

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Expense buys a lot of Recycling Jobs

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

USA Employment

ComputerRepair

TV Repair

All MetalMining

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

THAT’s the USA? What about Asia

• NO Superfund• Philippines, Indonesia,

PNG passed legislation modeled on USA 1872 General Mining Act ($5/acre)

• Number chinese mining deaths 2001: 5,000-6,000

Copper as a percentage of mined Material, after cyanide leaching: <2%

Of that copper, % “electronics grade” <10%

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

List of Chinese non-ferrous smelters• Secondary Nonferrous Metals Smelters• BAODING ALUMINUM WORKS • BAOTOU ALUMINIUM SMELTER, INNER MONGOLIA • BEIJING METALS & MINERALS IMPORT & EXPORT CORPORATION • BEIJING NONFERROUS METALS INDUSTRY CORPORATION • BENXI ALLOY PLANT • CHANGSHA ALUMINIUM MATERIAL FACTORY • CHANGZHOU HUAYI ALUMINIUM PROFILES CO., LTD • CHANGZHOU SMELTERY • CHINA NATIONAL METALS & MINERALS IMP. & EXP. CORP. TIANJIN BR

ANCH

• CHINA NATIONAL NON-FERROUS METALS IMPORT AND EXPORT CORPORATION, BEIJING BRANC

• CHINA NATIONAL NON-FERROUS METALS INDUSTRY CORPORATION ZHUZHOU SMELT

• CHINA NATIONAL NONFERROUS METALS IMP. & EXP. CORP. GUANGXI CO.

• CHINA NONFERROUS METAL INDUSTRY CO. SHANGHAI UNITED CENTER

• CHINA NONFERROUS METAL INDUSTRY CORP. XIANGHUALING STANNARY NORTH-WEST ALUMINIUM WORKING MILL

• DESHENG ALUMINIUM PLANT • FUJIAN CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL SUPPLY CORPORATION • FUSHUN ALUMINIUM PLANT • GANSU ALUMINIUM INDUSTRY COMPANY • GANZHOU ALUMINIUM PLANT • GEJIU GENERAL FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS & TRADE CORPOR

ATION

• GUANGDONG NANHAI COUNTY XINGFA ALUMINIUM SECTION PLANT. • GUANGXI HARDWARE MINERALS IMP. & EXP. BEIHAI CORP. • GUANGZHOU ALUMINIUM MATERIAL PLANT • GUANGZHOU ALUMINIUM PROCESSING FACTORY • GUANGZHOU COPPER AND ALUMINIUM MATERIAL FACTORY • GUIZHOU ALUMINIUM PLANT • HAINAN NATIONAL FOREIGN TRADE CORPORATION • HANGZHOU YATONG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD • HANSEN SPECIAL ELECTRIC WIRE CO. LTD. • HENGDIAN GROUP CO. HENGDIAN GROUP CORP. IMPORT & EXPORT

COMPANY

• HENGYANG TIANYUAN NONFERROUS METAL CO.,LTD. • JIANGSU ALUMINIUM PLANT • JIANGXI NON-FERROUS METALS SMELTING AND PROCESSING PLANT • JILIN NICKEL INDUSTRY CORPORATION • KAI PINT ALUMINIUM SECTIONS MATERIAL MANUFACTORY • LANZHOU LIANCHENG ALUMINIUM SMELTER • LUOYANG PETROLEUM CHEMICAL INDUSTRY SUPPLY AND MARKET COMP

ANY

• MATOU ALUMINIUM PLANT MEIZHOU CIGARTTE FACTORY • METALLURGCAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, GUANGHUA CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

COMPANY

• NANHAI OIL ZHUHAI BASE CO. • NANJING DOLOMITE MINE NANJING HUAHONG MAGNESIUM COMPANY • NINGBO THREE A INDUSTRIAL GENERAL CORPORATION • NORTHEAST LIGHT ALLOY FABRICATION PLANT • PANSHI ALUMINIUM WORKS, JILIN • PINGXIANG ALUMINIUM FACTORY, JIANGXI • QINGTONGXIA ALUMINIUM PLANT • SHANDONG ALUMINIUM COMPANY • SHANGHAI AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING FACTORY • SHANGHAI NON-FERROUS METALS INDUSTRY CORP • SHANGHAI SMELTER • SHANGHAI VACUUM FLASK & VESSEL MANUFACTURING CORP. • SHANTOU SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE, ZHUCHI REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMEN

T CORP.

• SHAOGUAN SMELTERY • SHENYANG LIMING FORGING AND CASTING INDUSTRIAL COMPANY • SHENYANG NONFERROUS METALS WORKS • SHENZHEN JINYUE ALUMINIUM PRODUCT CO. LTD. • THE BEIJING ZHONG KE NEW TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT OF CHEMICAL

METALLURGY COMPANG

• TIANJIN METAL MATERIALS WEST STATION STORE COMPANY • URUMCHI ALUMINIUM PLANT • WAFANGDIAN MATERIAL REGENERATING, UTILIZING CO. • WUXI COUNTY WELDING MATERIAL MANUFACTORY • WUXI SMELTERY • YANTAI INSTITUTE OF MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY • YELLOW RIVER ALUMINIUM INDUSTRY COMPANY LIMITED • YUNNAN ALUMINIUM PLANT • ZHEJIANG HENGSHAN FERROALLY FACTORY

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Extraction is Getting Worse

• Percent of Congo's lowland gorilla population since mining of Coltan for cell phones began 10 years ago: -50%• Number of years of known world copper reserves (1970 rate of consumption): less than 100• Change in World Rate of consumption between 1990 and 1970: +50%• USGS plan for meeting copper demand in 100 years: ocean bed mining

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

What about Recycling?

• China imports copper to make monitors: 30% is recycled scrap.

• China imports residue: only 12% of a monitor is copper bearing.

• USA companies shipping all monitors “as is” are creating piles of toxic waste

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

3 USA electronics scrap practices

• 25 USA employees: 25% monitors sold for reuse/repair, positive revenue. 75% scrapped in USA at a loss.

• 6 USA employees: 75% monitors shipped for scrap and repair at $0. 25% sent to company A above.

• 1 USA employee: 100% export. Generator is sent shipping container and packing list.

– Where are the toxics along for the ride?

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

A real bad sign

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Questions to ask your recycler

• Does the company have the capacity to demanufacture 7 out of 10 of the leaded CRT monitors it receives? If not, is it paying for specific, tested materials and rejecting those that aren’t reusable?

• What do they do with monitors that can’t be repaired?• What technical staff examine whether monitors are

repairable?• What are the chemical weights (gram per Kg) of the

copper, gold, or other metals the export scrap contains? • Who pays for transportation? Is the material worth the

transport, or is the transport cost an alternative to dumping?

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

4 Simple Rules for Exports

• All material must be individually listed on bill of lading. No “package deals”.

• Each listed item must be for positive revenue.• Company must have employee and plant capacity to

demanufacture non-exportables.• Keep a list of items (e.g. CRT glass) never to be

exported.

Demand to see export bill of lading or shipping manifests (with name removed to protect proprietary market relationships). The cigarettes may not be listed, but the rest of the document tells a story.

American Retroworks, Inc.

PO Box 1010 Middlebury, VT 05753 P: 802-382-8500

Longer Term Solutions to E-Waste Recycling

• CERCLA (Superfund) Reauthorization - Funded by taxpayers since industry funding expired in 1995.

• US Telecommunications Act - Provides billions in free airwaves for transition to Digital TV, which will "obsolete" the majority of TVs now in service; no responsibility for recycling

• General Mining Act of 1872 - Most terms have not been amended for 130 years.