Dive Brief:
- 3S International, an e-waste recycling company based in Mount Pleasant, MI, opened an end-of-life electronics processing plant in Tinley Park, IL.
- The new 8,000-square-foot plant uses BLUBOX, a technology that renders e-waste into smaller fragments and then extracts the rare earth elements from the pieces. The facility can process 2,200 pounds of electronic waste in one hour.
- The company said it collects and receives electronics throughout the Midwest, and has a 150-mile trade area radius including Illinois, Michigan and Indiana.
Dive Insight:
3S International expects to open a similar facility in the near future, with an ambitious goal of opening six to 10 plants in the U.S. within the next three years. A report released in February expects the e-waste industry to climb over 23% from 2013 to 2019, eventually reaching $41.36 billion in 2019.
Electronic waste management firm E-Waste Systems (EWSI) is wasting no time in establishing itself as a heavy-hitter in the e-waste market, as it moves fast to secure a number of electronic waste facilities across the U.S. in a concerted effort to expand its operations nationwide. EWSI is heavily invested in e-waste markets around the globe, receiving over 32 million from investors to expand into China.