Cerebra Integrated Technologies, one of India’s premier total IT Solutions retailers, announced a new partnership with Cimelia Resource Recovery Pte Ltd, India’s biggest e-waste recycling firm. The alliance will allow Cerebra Integrated to begin work on its proposed e-waste recycling facility, set to be constructed near Bangalore. Located on 10 acres of land in the region, the new electronic waste recycling unit will be set-up entirely by Cimelia including machinery. The recycling firm will also aid Cerebra in the managing of the new facility. Appropriately dubbed the E-waste plant, the new recycling unit will allow Cerebra Integrated to double its e-waste recycling ... Full Story

UK Corporations are starting to realise the environmental and monetary benefits of recycling old company mobile phones. It has been estimated that over 3 million firms in the UK will give out company or company-paid mobiles as part of upgrades or new handouts this year. With the large excess of redundant phones in the corporate sector, businesses are beginning to appreciate the value of recycling phones that employees exchange for new ones. Actions being taken by these firms include setting up recycling drives in building lobbies or forming partnerships with online recyclers. Not only do corporations receive environmental accolades for responsibly recycling, ... Full Story

A joint research team from China and the US has been studying the effects of e-waste recycling on both people and the environment. Recycled electronic waste may be the next major environmental issue on the horizon for developing countries as they try to deal with high pollution levels and a degrading environment. Scientists have now uncovered that the chemicals and toxins emitted by recycling e-waste could pose severe environmental and health risks. Scientists in both China and the US used various toxic elements, separated from a recycling workshop at an e-waste facility within China’s Shantou City. Using base technology, they filtered out ... Full Story

Mobile service provider O2 launched the UK’s first environmental phone rating scheme today. The service will examine the carbon footprint of each device over the course of their lifespan. Joined by sustainability organisation ‘Forum for the Future’, O2 has created a list of at least 65 mobile handsets from six different manufacturers. Each device has been rated based on its overall level of environmental impact. This includes its entire lifespan from collection of raw materials to how easy it is to recycle at the end of its life. The scheme will also include the functionality of the mobile phone with devices that ... Full Story

The EPA’s chief administrator, Lisa Jackson, has announced that the governing body would amp up efforts to prevent e-waste and move towards a more sustainable approach to the growing issue of electronic debris. The move comes as part of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s top six global priorities that were recently announced. The others include carbon emissions, improving water quality, reducing toxic exposures, improving air quality and building stronger institutional framework. Ms Jackson’s comments were given when she spoke at the public reception launching the 17th Session of the Commission on Environmental Co-operation. Jim Puckett, executive director for the Basel Action Network, said ... Full Story

A container filled with e-waste has been seized within the Southern Indian city of Chennai after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence dubbed it ‘e-waste dumping’. The Indian media reported yesterday that the shipment had been confiscated after DRI investigators deemed the shipment an illegal dump sent over from Brunei. The container, which arrived marked for Venus Metals located in the Chennai suburbs, had been marked ‘switch board scrap’. However, when authorities opened it, they found 166 computer monitors, circuit boards, loose electrical motor parts, 89 control panels and several broken computer accessories. C. Rajan, the Additional Director General for DRI, said ... Full Story

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 As solar power becomes more popular, the industry has reached the question of how to recycle solar panels once they reach the end of life stage. Although, solar panels are reliable for up to decades and rarely need servicing, the recycling industry for the technology is really just beginning. A new European organisation, ... Full Story

NIPSCO will partner with American Recycling Centers of America to offer a free appliance recycling scheme that will be offered to residential electric customers. Beginning next Tuesday, the new programme will allow customers of the utility wanting to get rid of their older, redundant freezers and refrigerators schedule a free pickup. In exchange, NIPSCO will hand out a $35 reward as incentive as part of its recycling initiative. Older freezers and refrigerators typically take at least 700 to 1,600 kilowatt hours per year to operate. By replacing an old refrigerator with a more efficient new one, householders can save up to 1,200 ... Full Story

Last year, the UN highlighted the growing hazards of mismanaged and illegally dumped e-waste. As the reports began to surface, developing countries such as India were pinpointed as locations where the issue was becoming increasingly problematic. The growing accumulation of e-waste is finally being addressed within the nation. Mumbai will become home to a specialised site able to reprocess more than 11,000 tonnes of e-waste that is being generated within the city each year. The plant will be built in a nearby suburb of the large metropolis. According to studies, processing the e-waste directly within the city centre, which is currently done ... Full Story

Sims Group UK has recently acquired Wincanton's recycling business in a closing deal worth £17.5m. The recycling business, which is made up of two electronics recycling facilities in Daventry and Billingham as well as sortation centres at Widnes and Harlow, employs around 145 employees. All of these workers will transfer along with the acquisition under TUPE. Sims is an arm of the larger New York-based firm Sims Metal Management and has lead the industry in electronic and electrical equipment recycling, recovery and reuse. Since 31 March of this year, the recycling company has managed to bring in a profit of nearly £18.3m. The ... Full Story

Sainsbury's has taken further steps to improve its carbon footprint with the latest launch of its new mobile handset battery charger recycling programme. Part of Sainsbury's Make the Difference Days, the initiative is the first campaign of its type for the UK grocer and will see the supermarket implement charger recycling stations across all its stores beginning now through 28 August. Hoping to collect more than 150,000 chargers throughout the campaign, the retailer will use the banks in its properties nationwide. It has been estimated that more than 20 million old chargers are sitting forgotten in drawers in UK households. Over one ... Full Story