Americans now own about 24 electronic devices per household, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), many of which contain CRT glass displays. Recycling CRT glass is a rapidly growing concern for electronics recyclers with massive supplies being stored around the nation and demand only decreasing due to new display technology for electronic devices…
Forty years ago today, in 1973, history was made. A phone call was made that changed the world forever. Inventor and former Motorola vice president Martin Cooper made the very first mobile call on Sixth Avenue in New York City to the head of research at Bell Labs, who had also been in the race…
Smartphone screens as hard as a diamond! Well, almost. Sapphire is the second-hardest material on the planet. Manufactured sapphire, a substance already used to armor some military vehicles, may make an appearance in smartphone and tablet screens. Impervious to scratches and drops on the sidewalk that send many phones to their demise, the sapphire screens…
Government regulations to divert electronics waste from landfills have shown an interesting and unintended turn. “Take-back” programs promoted by state and federal environmental advocates have been successful in diverting more than 290,000 tons of e-waste away from landfills and toward responsible recyclers each year. However, these programs have also promoted electronics hoarding. The demand for…
A recent study by the U.S. Trade Commission on e-waste disposal and exportation, a sensitive topic in the e-scrap industry, provided some thought-provoking data. The study involved surveying 5,200 refurbishers, recycling companies, brokers, information technology asset managers and others that were legally required to respond regarding their exporting activities. HOBI International Inc participated in the survey.…
Today one of the two House landfill diversion bills (HB648 and HB1436) and will be heard in the House Environmental Regulation Committee, both would require more regulation and a collections program for large retailers to reduce the amount of e-waste generated in the waste stream. A February 2013 study by the Coalition of American Electronics…
Successful data erasure starts at home! At least, that is what the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) is trying to convey to the public. NAID’s new campaign, “NAID ’em,” plans to utilize social media and web outlets in hopes to further educate the public in the practice of proper data security and appropriately define…
BYOD programs have caused a substantial shift in leverage over employee devices once possessed by IT departments. The days of employees treading lightly around IT department gurus in fear of being stuck with an ancient laptop on its last leg are dwindling. Since bring your own device (BYOD) programs have made their debut in companies, IT departments…
Lasers and vaporizers can’t kill these chips! Researchers at Caltech have been testing a special component embedded in microchips that are capable of self-healing, making them less susceptible to damage from environmental conditions and other harmful impacts. They found that their chips could fix themselves and keep on working even after being blasted by lasers.…
If our lives weren’t already saturated with technology, wearable tech is predicted to be the next big thing. This innovative emerging market is still in its early stages but has endless possibilities. “By 2015, 485 million wearable computing devices will be shipped per year. Right now nearly 61% of the current wearable tech market is…
One month, 114,000 petitions and countless bashing blogs later, opposition against the cell phone unlocking ban has gained support from the Obama administration according to USA Today Since the announcement of the cell phone unlocking ban, which became effective Jan. 26, more than 114,000 enraged consumers and organizations, including some electronics recyclers, have added their…
2013 is progressively becoming the year of the hacker. The main target of these hackings? Smartphones. Consumers are constantly voicing their wants of a smaller, thinner device with more storage space to make their lives a little easier. In reality, the shrunken screens and huge storage space are making hackers lives easier, too! Since smartphones,…
Apparently e-waste isn’t all bad! Organizations around the nation are coming together to support a federal e-waste bill that could create more than $1 billion in payroll for 42,000 new jobs for the U.S. economy. The purpose of the federal e-waste bill is to reintroduce and reform the current bans set forth in the Responsible…
As industry leaders congregate at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) to discuss pressing issues facing the mobile market, bring your own device (BYOD) is clearly a top priority. Organizations that have already implemented BYOD programs for their employees have been running into a number of problems, primarily how to handle data security and mobile asset…
Household junk drawers have quickly become cell phone graveyards as consumers constantly upgrade their electronics for newer models. A survey provided by Market Watch found that more than half of US consumers are stashing two or more unused cell phone in their homes. This hoarding habit results in a potential $34 billion in electronics recycling…
