e-Waste Solutions

Problem / Opportunity:

Literally – for years – recovering an ongoing and sustainable plastic value derived from end-of-life dismantled electronics has been questionable at best. Almost always, export becomes the outlet – and that is not always available and only at minimal value.

Impact on Customer:

While a significant mix of polymers exists in eWaste – the bulk is some form of HIPS and ABS. eWaste recyclers put considerable time and money into recovering electronic parts. The balance of  the volume and weight, in many cases, are plastics that are inherent in the device being recycled.

The recycler is often faced with:

• Disposal of low or no value plastics that may include metals.
• Stock piling plastic in hopes it will have value.
• Additional labor to remove mixed plastic and attachments to gain any value at all for the materials, or
• Alternative low return markets (e.g. incineration, etc.).

Based upon these options, the customer would incur a significant loss compared to being able to sell the plastic into a dependable market at reasonable price.

Solution for Customer:

Butler-MacDonald will work with eWaste recyclers to enable them to recover HIPS or ABS fractions suitable for sale. Alternatively, Butler-MacDonald may purchase HIPS or ABS plastic recovered from the eWaste recycler’s operation, even if it’s not pure HIPS or ABS, contains metals, and/or mixed polymers.

Benefit:

eWaste recyclers can now better control economic returns on the plastic fractions that were once considered either troublesome, low value or just plain waste.

Call one of our sales representatives for more details.