Leaded Glass. A Look Through The. By Jake Thomas

Transcription

1 Reprinted from A Look Through The Leaded Glass By Jake Thomas Through extensive in-house interviews and exhaustive Freedom of Information requests, we tell the whole story about where the leaded glass from cathode ray tubes are going and where the market will end up. N ew Cathode Ray Tube Pushes Television Ahead reads the headline to a 1929 New York Times story heralding the introduction of the cathode ray tube (CRT). The article went on to describe the invention as holding much promise for making television accessible in homes. And much promise it held, with cathode ray tubes becoming the dominant display technology in televisions and computers for decades. However, the technology also held a giant headache for an industry that didn t exist yet. Over 80 years later, the Times ran another article on cathode ray tubes with the headline, Unwanted Electronic Gear Rising in Toxic Piles. This time, the Times was reporting on how the oncecelebrated technology had become a glass tsunami, as stockpiles of hazardous lead glass from CRTs have steadily amassed across the country. There was once a strong market for used CRT glass, which could be recycled back into new tubes, but end markets for the material have dried up as a result of more electronics manufacturers switching to flat-screen televisions. Now, for recycling companies that collect them, CRTs have steadily become a money-loser, often charging consumers to take them and then paying to have them processed. However, some companies have found a solution to this prob- lem: send the material to other countries for recycling. In order to get a better handle on where CRTs are being shipped globally for recycling, Resource Recycling obtained, a public records request, notifications that companies seeking to export the material are required to file with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Although these notices offer limited information on the export market for CRTs (see Sidebar on next page), they do provide insights into the strategies that some companies have adopted or are considering for dealing with this problematic material. The notices also shed light on some even bigger problems the industry could face, in addition to a few surprises. Big processors dominate Of all the CRTs and CRT glass approved by EPA for export for recycling between 2010 and 2012 in records obtained by Resource Recycling, Electronic Recyclers International (ERI) had authorization to export more material than any other company. ERI is a large e-scrap company with seven locations across the country that manages the old electronics for over 2,000 companies and municipalities, according to its website. The Fresno, California-based company is also certified to both the R2 and e-stewards standards. RR June

2 Sidebar On methodology In 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule aimed at streamlining the management requirements for recycling used cathode ray tubes (CRTs) and the glass removed from them. Although the rule does require companies wanting to export used CRTs for recycling to notify the EPA 60 days prior to shipment, the notices only include estimates of the amount of material the company intends to ship over a 12-month period. There is also no requirement that they report the quantity of the material that was actually exported during this period. So there are limitations to using export notices to get a handle on where this material is going. For this article, we used the maximum amount each company was allowed to export between 2010 and But just because a company was authorized to ship CRTs outside of the U.S. doesn t mean it did. In fact, the numbers used in this article are higher than what was actually shipped. You always over budget on those things just to cover your bases, says Aaron Blum, chief compliance officer for Electronic Recyclers International. Although Blum wouldn t say how much material ERI did ship, he says it wasn t the maximum amount of material allowed by the EPA. He also says that ERI didn t go with shipping material to Germany because of regulatory issues (see article). Well, you always try to guess a little bit high to be on the safe side, says Steve Skurnac, president of Sims Recycling Solutions. I mean you don t put in 10 times the numbers, obviously. But I would think that anyone who submits that notice would try to be on the optimistic high side for the volumes just so you don t have a situation where you exceed your export limitation. The EPA has proposed a revision to its regulations that would require exporters to file annual reports that would include the actual quantity of CRTs exported and where they were sent to. Also, companies wanting to ship CRTs for reuse must file a separate notice, which this article does not delve into. That is really a problem, wrote Jim Puckett - executive director of the Basel Action Network, an environmental justice group that has called for better monitoring of export of used electronics of our approach in an exchange. Nobody claims exports for recycling anymore when claiming re-use is so easy and nobody ever checks. There are two avenues of the primary flows. Those that claim to EPA and they all use the reuse loophole, and many more who do not bother to tell EPA at all. According to an analysis of records by RR, of the 474 million pounds of material approved by the EPA for export between 2010 and 2012, ERI had export notices for 67 of it. Of that amount, 238 million pounds were approved for export to Technologies Displays (TDM) in Mexicali, Baja California in Mexico. There, CRT glass is cleaned and chemically processed, according to a description of the recycling of the material included in EPA export notices. It s also sorted and cut into sizes as requested by manufacturers, according to records. ERI is restricted with what it can do with the CRT glass because of regulations under California s e-scrap law and because the company is certified to the e-stewards standard, says Aaron Blum, ERI s chief compliance officer. Companies certified to the e-stewards standard can only send CRT glass to either a lead smelter or to a glass-toglass recycling facility, he says. According to Blum, ERI has two outlets for its CRTs. It sends cut and cleaned glass directly to Videocon Industries, an Indian maker of consumer and electronic goods that operates a glass-to-glass recycling facility. ERI also sends tubes to TDM, which cuts and cleans the glass before sending it to Videocon. You can t send bare tubes to Videocon; they won t take it, says Blum. You have to cut, separate and clean it; otherwise you have to go TDM to do it. An analysis of export records obtained by RR found that 56 of all material approved that was approved by the EPA for export from had TDM designated as its final destination. Another common destination for CRT glass is, a mining company that operates a lead smelter in Belledune in the Canadian province of New. An analysis of export records found that 19 of all the material approved for export in between 2010 and 2012 designated Xstrata as its final destination. Steve Skurnac, president of SRS, says that the two companies have a long-standing relationship. He also points out that he used to work for Noranda Recycling, which was absorbed by Xstrata. In the grand scheme of things, we re a somewhat smaller player in the actual volume of glass handled, principally because we re not a big player in the [California e- scrap] market, says Skurnac. Of the companies authorized to export this material, SRS had the OK to send the second most at 26 million pounds, much smaller than the 474 million pounds ERI was approved for, according to an analysis of records obtained by RR. Of all the CRTs approved for export by the EPA in , SRS made up 12, well below ERI s 67. In addition to Xstrata, SRS sent material to its business affiliates in Canada and England, in addition to Teck Metals in British Columbia, Canada. SRS was authorized to send 19.8 million pounds of CRTs to its facility in Mississauga, Ontario where the leaded glass is mechanically separated from non-leaded. Skurnac says that the facility processes material primarily recovered e-scrap collection programs in the Northeastern U.S., and it was built to cut down on freight costs for SRS. The company was also authorized to send 4.4 million pounds of CRTs to Sims Group UK Ltd., its business affiliate across the Atlantic, for what Skurnac describes as internal R&D. But sending CRTs to Xstrata or TDM isn t an option for every company. Jason Linnell, the executive director of the National Center for Electronics Recycling, notes that it isn t cheap to ship this material. Economics is one reason, especially, for the smelters in Canada, he says. Depending on where you re located in the U.S., it just doesn t make sense to send it by truck or by rail all the way up there. Korea, Germany and Nigeria? Records show that some companies have considered facilities in South Korea and Ger- 32 RR June 2013

3 many as options, but sometimes they haven t worked out. Global Electric Electronic Processing Inc. (GEEP) was authorized to send 661,387 pounds of CRT glass from its Durham, North Carolina facility to a company in Kyungbuk, South Korea called Young Chang Co. Ltd., according to a 2010 notice filed with EPA. The process used on the material is described in the record as being glass-toglass, separating the panel and funnel, then cleaning and crushing them for use as raw Table 1 CRT glass approved for export, exporting companies Company Amount approved for export (in pounds) Destinations Originating from Time period Electronic Recyclers International 316,099,242 Technologies Displays in Mexicali, Mexico; C.C. Umwelt AG in Krefeld, Germany; C.C. Umwelt AG in Worms, Germany, ; Sims Recycling Solutions, Canada in Mississauga, Ontario; Sims Group UK Limited in Ellesmere Port, Chesire, England; Teck Metals in Trail, British Columbia Sims Recycling Solutions 54,600,000 in ; Sims Recycling Solutions, Canada in Mississauga, Ontario; Sims Group UK Limited in Ellesmere Port, Chesire, England; Teck Metals in Trail, British Columbia ewaste Recycling Solutions 21,912,000 in Belledune, New Technologies Displays Americas 19,841,604 Technologies Displays in Mexicali, Mexico Materials Processing 15,763,052 in ECS Refining 13,200,000 in Belledune, New ; Technologies Displays in Mexicali, Mexico E-Structors inc. 8,809,245 in Belledune, New Gardner, Massachusetts; Indianapolis; Flower Mound, Texas West Chicago, Illinois; Port of Los Angeles or Port of Long Beach June 2010 Dec Aug Dec Auburn, Maine Sept June 2012 Calexico, California Mendota Heights, Minnesota Santa Clara, California; Terrell, Texas Elkridge, Maryland ewaste Center Inc. 8,708,974 Lucky Material Ltd. Chungnam Korea Commerce, California RMG Enterprise 6,604,622 Xstrata Zinc in WeRecycle! LLC 5,952,481 in Campbell Technological Resources 881,849 in Global Electric Electronic Processing Inc. Londonderry, New Hampshire Mount Vernon, New York 661,387 Young Chang in Kyungbuk, South Korea Durham, North Carolina CRTR Inc. 507,063 in Exports Express 363,762 Technologies Displays in Mexicali, Mexico Sept Sept June 2010 May 2011 Jan Dec May 2010 June 2012 Ommitted July 2010 Aug Nov Nov Crestline, Ohio Sept to Sept Brockton, Massachusetts Okinawa Import Export LTDA LP 75,700 Pladin Nig Limited Okota, Lagos, Nigeria Arcadia, California Total 473,980,981 Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. June, 2010 May, 2011 Aug Aug Las Vega, Nevada Sept Aug Percent of total material exported One time RR June

4 materials by CRT manufacturing companies. GEEP did not respond to calls for comment. Commerce, California-based ewaste Center Inc. was authorized to send 8.7 million pounds of CRTs to Lucky Material Ltd in Chungnam, South Korea. According to a 2010 export notice, the CRTs would be ground, separated, cut and cleaned for glass-to-glass recycling and smelting for lead extraction. John Kim, business development director at ewaste Center, told Resource Recycling that the shipment didn t go. He referred RR to another employee at the company for more details, who didn t respond to a request for comment by press time. It s interesting that they would source CRT glass for glass-to-glass recycling all the way from the U.S. when they should have plenty on hand, if that s what they wanted to do, from their own operations or from their own country or the region, says Jason Linnell of the Korean facilities that agreed to take the material. He notes that South Korea is home to electronics giants LG and Samsung, which would provide plenty of feedstock. Linnell also speculates that the exporting companies may have been testing out other markets. According to records, ERI received approval to export CRTs to C.C. Umwelt AG in Krefeld, Germany and WKR in Worms, Germany. C.C. Umwelt would remove all metals from the glass, which would then be used for a drainage material, according to records, which also state that WKR would prepare the glass to be sent to a glass-to-glass recycling facilities in either Malaysia or India. However, ERI did not make the shipments. Aaron Blum, of ERI, says the company was looking for new outlets for CRTs, but the California Department of Toxic Substances Control did not approve of the processes that would be used on the material in Germany. One puzzling export notice came from an Arcadia, California-based company called Okinawa Import Export LTDA LP for a shipment to Pladin Nig Limited in Okota, Nigeria. The notice states that the material would be repaired and reused. It would be recycled if it they were too damaged, the record states. An sent to the address listed on the export notice got a response from Tina Maggie Chao saying that the person who handled the matter no longer worked at the company and was in China. Table 2 CRT glass approved for export, receiving companies Receiving company Linnell, describing the notice as very strange, says that it was likely that the exporter misfiled the notice under recycling rather than reuse. Too many eggs in one basket? For companies that can afford it, sending glass to TDM or Xstrata provides an outlet for the troublesome material. However, there is a real possibility that these options could become restricted or vanish, making stockpiles even worse. Steve Skurnac, of SRS, says that Xstrata Canada has slightly reduced its consumption of glass and has limited the companies that supply to the facility. As a result, he says, smaller companies shipping smaller quantities of material have been shut out in favor of larger companies like his that can consistently deliver large amounts. In May, Xstrata shut its zinc-lead mine after nearly half a century, which affected the overall smelting capacity for the company. The Belledune smelter is about 35 miles from the mine. The issue with those lead smelters, though, is that their capacity is somewhat constrained, and, in some respects, their longevity is a bit in concern right now as to whether or not they ll be around forever, says Skurnac. I think the market is in a little bit of flux right now because there aren t any guaranteed long-term outlets for the amount of glass that s still being collected and generated. Aaron Blum, of ERI, has a similar Amount approved for export Country Percent of total material Technologies Displays 267,104,608 Mexico 56 90,830,312 Canada 19 C.C. Umwelt AG Total 39,000,000 Germany 8 WKR 39,000,000 Germany 8 Sims Recycling Solutions, Canada 19,800,000 Canada 4 Lucky Material Ltd. 8,708,974 South Korea 2 Sims Group UK Limited 4,400,000 U.K. 1 Teck Metals 4,400,000 Canada 1 Young Chang Co., Ltd Gumi-City, KungBuk 661,387 South Korea Pladin Nig Limited 75,700 Nigeria Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 47,398,0981 concern about TDM. Everybody in the whole market place is worried about it, he says. For the past three years, industry and environmental groups including the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, the Environmental Defense Fund and the Consumer Electronics Association have sponsored a competition in partnership with InnoCentive, a company that seeks to come up with solutions to the world s problems crowd-sourcing, to offer cash prizes for a new way to recycle CRTs. But Blum says he hasn t seen any new options for CRTs that are scalable. Skurnac says that he hears about two technologies that could have some potential. One is a furnace that melts down the CRTs and extracts the lead. The other, he says, is a leaching process, where the CRT glass is ground up and then an acid is used to remove the lead. Both of them have promise, but the difficulty with both of the technologies, based on the research we ve seen and done, is that they don t quite get all the lead out of the leaded glass, he says. So it s really going to boil down to how much it costs and what kind of capacity does it have and how good a job does it do at taking the lead out, and is the glass of a quality that s OK for regulators and the secondary uses in the market place. He also adds that even if NuLife Glass, a company developing the CRT glass furnace technology, could develop a 34 RR June 2013

5 Table 3 CRT glass approved for export, companies, origins and destinations Company Date of notice Global Electric Electronic Processing Inc. 5/12/ ,387 Durham, North Carolina Total 661,387 Amount (in pounds) Place of origin Destination Name of recycler Kyungbuk, South Korea Young Chang Co., Ltd Gumi-City, KungBuk E-Structors Inc. 6/3/2011 4,400,000 Elkridge, Maryland 7/22/2010 4,409,245 Elkridge, Maryland Total 8,809,245 Electronic Recyclers International 5/20/ ,366,414 Auburn, Washington Mexicali, Mexico Electronic Recyclers International 5/20/ ,366,414 Indianapolis, Indiana Mexicali, Mexico Electronic Recyclers International 5/20/ ,366,414 Gardner, Massachusetts Mexicali, Mexico Technologies Displays Technologies Displays Technologies Displays Electronic Recyclers International 10/29/ ,000,000 Gardner, Massachusetts Krefeld, Germany C.C. Umwelt AG Electronic Recyclers International 11/24/ ,000,000 Indianapolis, Indiana Krefeld, Germany C.C. Umwelt AG Electronic Recyclers International 11/24/ ,000,000 Flower Mound, Texas Krefeld, Germany C.C. Umwelt AG Electronic Recyclers International 11/24/ ,000,000 Gardner, Massachusetts Worms, Germany WKR Electronic Recyclers International 11/24/ ,000,000 Indianapolis, Indiana Worms, Germany WKR Electronic Recyclers International 11/24/ ,000,000 Flower Mound, Texas Worms, Germany WKR Total 316,099,242 Materials Processing 9/7/10 15,763,052 Mendota Heights, Minnesota Total 15,763,052 ewaste Center Inc. 7/26/2010 8,708,974 Commerce, California Chungnam Korea Lucky Material Ltd. Total 8,708,974 Exports Express 8/31/ ,762 Las Vegas Mexicali, Mexico Technologies Displays Total 363,762 Campbell Technological Resources 8/30/ ,849 Crestline, Ohio Total 881,849 RMG Enterprise 7/22/2010 2,204,622 Londonderry, New Hampshire RMG Enterprise 8/2/2011 4,400,000 Londonderry, New Hampshire Total 6,604,622 Xstrata Zinc Canada Xstrata Zinc Company Date of notice Amount (in pounds) Place of origin Destination Name of recycler ewaste Recycling Solutions 9/12/2010 2,112,000 Auburn, Maine ewaste Recycling Solutions 6/10/ ,800,000 Auburn, Maine Total 21,912,000 - Smelter Table 3 continued on next page RR June

6 Table 3 continued from previous page Okinawa Import Export LTDA LP 8/12/ ,700 Arcadia, California Okota, Lagos, Nigeria Total 75,700 WeRecycle! LLC 10/8/2010 5,952,481 Mount Vernon, New York Total 5,952,481 Pladin Nig Limited - Smelter ECS Refining 12/29/2010 2,200,000 Santa Clara, California ECS Refining 12/15/2010 2,200,000 Terrell, Texas - Smelter - Smelter ECS Refining 1/19/2011 8,800,000 Santa Clara, California Mexicali, Mexico Technologies Displays Total 13,200,000 Sims Recycling Solutions 3/16/ ,000,000 West Chicago, Illinois Sims Recycling Solutions 3/16/ ,000,000 West Chicago, Illinois Sims Recycling Solutions 4/13/ ,800,000 West Chicago, Illinois Mississauga, Ontario Sims Recycling Solutions 5/10/2010 4,400,000 Port of Los Angeles or Port of Long Beach Ellesmere Port, Chesire, England Sims Recycling Solutions 11/17/2011 4,400,000 West Chicago, Illinois Trail, British Columbia Total 54,600,000 CRTR Inc. 8/9/ ,063 Brockton, Massachusetts Total 507,063 Corp.- Smelter Corp.- Smelter Sims Recycling Solutions, Canada Sims Group UK Limited Teck Metals Technologies Displays Americas 8/10/ ,841,604 Calexico, California Mexicali, Mexico Technologies Dispalys Total 19,841,604 Grand Total 473,980,981 Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. facility that could process 10 tons a day and it ran at capacity everyday of the year, that s still just a drop in the bucket. Jake Thomas is a freelance writer, specializing in environmental issues. He can be reached at jaketho@gmail.com Reprinted with permission from Resource Recycling, P.O. Box 42270, Portland, OR ; (503) , (503) (fax); 36 RR June 2013