Used Electronic Products: An examination of US Exports - USITC

commodity materials from UEPs to be 50–55 percent steel, 30 percent plastics, 10–12 percent aluminum, and 5–6 percent circuit boards bearing precious metals. 25Exports of monitors and televisions containing CRTs represented only 6 percent 26 of thetotal volume (and 3 percent 27 of total value) of recycled UEP exports, but, consistent withanecdotal information, these were the most commonly exported whole goods fordismantling and recycling abroad. 28 Together, shredded and whole circuit boardsaccounted for 17 percent of the total volume of recycled exports of UEPs in 2011, butmade up 38 percent of the total value of such exports, likely owing to their relatively highprecious metals content. As discussed in chapter 5, most circuit boards are exported tolarge secondary smelters in OECD countries. 29In 2011, estimated U.S. exports of shredded circuit boards for recycling totaled nearly40,000 tons, while such exports of whole circuit boards amounted to just under17,000 tons. The recycling value of circuit boards varies, depending on their preciousmetal content, which in turn depends on the machine they originate from. A distinction ismade between high-grade boards (found in servers, cell phones, and PCs) and low-gradeboards(found in printers, copiers, and other digital imaging equipment). High-gradeboards contain more concentrated amounts of precious metals and are therefore morevaluable.Industry practice is to export high-grade circuit boards to secondary smelters whole,while lower-grade circuit boards may be shredded domestically and then exported. Highgradeboards are not shredded domestically for two reasons: (1) domestic shredders donot allow a perfect separation of the precious metal elements, so domestic shreddingwould dilute their value, and (2) some dust containing precious metals could be lostduring processing and shipment of shredded boards. 30It is more difficult to determine the final value of lower-grade circuit boards, so U.S.companies are likely to shred and sample the material domestically to determine thevalue of precious metals before exporting to a larger smelter. There are no domesticsecondary smelters that can process circuit boards completely, at least not on a largescale. 31 The start-up costs for such a facility are reportedly around $2 billion. 3225 Industry representative, telephone interview by USITC staff, February 28, 2012.26 Low precision estimate; RSE equal to 64 percent.27 Low precision estimate; RSE equal to 65 percent.28 Industry representative, telephone interview by USITC staff, February 24, 2012.29 According to industry sources, these large smelters can recover up to 20 precious elements fromcircuit boards while U.S. smelters recover between 8 and 12. Government representative, telephone interviewby USITC staff, January 25, 2012.30 Industry representative, telephone interview by USITC staff, April 27, 2012.31 At least three U.S. companies reportedly break down circuit boards to successfully remove preciousmetals, but they are not secondary smelters. For final processing, as noted earlier, circuit boards are typicallysent to secondary copper smelters in OECD countries (Japan, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, and Korea).Industry representative, telephone interview by USITC staff, February 18, 2012; industry representative,telephone interview by USITC staff, February 2, 2012; USITC, hearing transcript, May 15, 2012, 76–77, 96(testimony of Renee St. Denis, Sims Recycling Solutions).32 Government representative, telephone interview by USITC staff, January 25, 2012.3-8