How to Avoid Phony E-Waste Recycling Companies

The term due diligence is frequently used in the world of business, and involves doing the proper amount of research before investing in a product or company. In regards to electronic recycling, there are many e-waste recycling shams that you need to be concerned about. As such, you need to make sure that the company that you are handing all of your e-waste to does exactly what they claim to do.

Here, we will discuss how you can avoid e-waste recycling shams and how you can avoid dealing with fraudulent e-waste recycling companies in the area.

Why Phony E-Waste Recycling Companies are So Prevalent

One of the reasons why e-waste recycling companies are so rampant is because e-waste is a very hot-button topic right now in many parts of the world. Given the fact that e-waste levels are rising every year, the need to properly dispose of such products has never been as important as it is today.

As such, con artists looking to take advantage of its importance have established fronts that don’t actually recycle any electronic waste in practice. Fake e-waste recycling will also hurt your bottom line as well as the reputation of your company. It also hurts the ecosystem as well as the third-world countries where the hardware will inevitably end up.

Also, despite the fact that e-waste recycling initiatives have risen exponentially in recent years, the industry as a whole is not exorbitantly profitable. This is because there is a myriad of steps that are involved in the process, most of which are quite costly.

For example, you will need to dismantle the equipment and then dichotomize all of the raw materials. In addition, you will need to recycle all of the raw materials in strict accordance with the rules and regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to avoid sanctions and hefty fines. Hence, hundreds, if not thousands, of hours are involved in the proper disposal and recycling of e-waste.

As for the fraudulent recycling companies, they essentially want to make all of the money without actually putting in any effort. For instance, they may accept your equipment, claiming that they will dismantle all of it themselves. However, in reality, they will not dismantle anything, nor will they recycle any of the raw materials in an EPA-approved manner.

Instead, they will take all of your inventory and simply throw it onto a barge and have it shipped to a poor nation. Then, all of the e-waste is shipped overseas to China, India, or some other developing nation where it will be improperly disposed of due to the lack of regulations, training, and recycling facilities, thus exacerbating the global e-waste epidemic.

How You Can Avoid Fraudulent E-Waste Companies

Unfortunately, many of today’s fraudulent e-waste companies have become quite sophisticated in their deceitful methods, so it may be hard to determine who is legitimate and who is underhanded. Therefore, you should perform the necessary due diligence when researching which e-waste recycling company to go with.

Most fraudulent companies are savvy enough to make similar claims as many reputable facilities, so you need to be prudent before you hand over any of your equipment. Fortunately, there is an easy way to tell legitimate companies apart from the fraudulent ones, and that is to learn how to identify a reputable e-waste recycling company.

Why e-Stewards Certification Matters

The easiest and fastest way to determine if a company is legitimate is to look into whether or not they have an e-Stewards certification. For example, there is a myriad of different memberships and certifications in the e-waste disposal, handling, and recycling industry; including but not limited to, the ISO 14001 certification and R2 certification.

However, what sets the e-Stewards certification apart from its counterparts is that it is the only certification that prohibits the exporting of untested and/or non-working e-waste to poor nations.

Who will pay for the recycling?

Furthermore, when looking for a proper e-waste recycling company, you should also ask each prospective company who will actually pay for the recycling. For instance, if the recycling plant will accept electronic equipment, such as television sets, at no extra cost (or for a very small price), then there is a very good chance that the company plans on shipping your electronic equipment overseas.

This is because efficient recycling will actually cost money, so if they are only charging a small service fee, or no fee for that matter, then odds are that they are planning on shipping your equipment to another country so that it can be sold through a broker.

An E-Stewards Recycling Checklist

Hence, if you are looking for an e-waste recycling company to take care of all of your superfluous hardware inventory, then they need to be credible. And, while being e-Stewards certified will certainly help establish the reputation of the recycling facility, they should also, ideally, be fully insured.

As well, they should provide you with a guarantee that all of your electronic equipment will be dismantled and processed locally. Some companies will even provide you with a full chain of custody documentation if you ask for it. This will allow you to track the progress of your items from the initial pick-up stage to the disposal stage, so you can rest assured that they are a transparent recycling company.

The eCycle Difference

If you would like to learn more tips on how to avoid having to deal with opportunist e-waste recycling companies and e-waste recycling shams, then please visit our website. eCycle is dedicated to helping create a better world, and we are Canada’s largest and most reputable e-waste recycling company.

We are also a proud partner of many electrical and electronic stewardship programs across Canada that adhere to the highest environmental standards and protocols in the nation. Moreover, we are an R2 certified (Government of Canada approved) recycler in Canada, and a NAID member that is ISO certified for various quality management systems, environmental management systems, and occupational health and safety assessment series.