by Shane Henson — October 24, 2012—Green Energy Renewable Solutions Inc., a waste conversion company, announced it has entered into a joint venture with eCycling USA to expand its Construction and Demolition Debris deconstruction plans to include electronic and whiteware (e.g., refrigerators) waste using proprietary systems developed by Adelmann Umwelt GmbH of Germany.
eCycling USA is partnered with Adelman to implement 100 electronic waste (e-waste) demanufacturing and materials reclamation sites across the United States, it says. Adelman currently has 60 plants operating throughout Europe.
As eCycling USA notes, e-waste is one of the most rapidly growing waste issues worldwide. Improper handling of e-waste results in vast amounts of toxic waste being sent to landfills and leaching into water supplies. Worldwide revenues from e-waste recovery were reported to be $8.5 billion in 2009 and are expected to grow to $13 billion by 2014. Currently, three million tons of e-waste is produced annually in the USA. Less than 20% of this amount is recycled and the annual amount will exceed 10 million tons by 2017, says eCycling USA.
While U.S. recyclers have begun the task of managing e-waste, it could take 40 to 50 years to recycle at current rates of recycling. And, says eCycling USA, of the 3,321 U.S. recycling companies, only 78 provide some form of shredding, and none can process both e-waste and whiteware feedstock at the rates that the eCycling USA/Adelmann system can, as well as segregate the raw materials for sale in commodities markets, claims the company. Approximately 99% of the feedstock is processed in an extremely environmentally friendly manner that eliminates pollutants from entering the atmosphere or ground either at the site or in landfills, says eCycling USA.
The Green Energy/eCycling USA site in Detroit is planned to be the model for planned expansions in the United States. In addition, the CEO of eCycling USA, Chuck Vollmer, is the founder of the Jobenomics national grassroots movement, which plans to create thousands of new Detroit small businesses related to Green Energy/eCycling USA operations.
