Creighton.Bildstein's blog

When we first started ATNI, 99% of the materials we received from our clients were sold for re-use.  As time passed, our clients started pulling the same types of legacy equipment from their networks – bigger and bigger supplies of the same types of materials with dwindling demand.  This was a predicament for us.  We were a consignment company selling re-use materials, and now we were receiving mostly scrap.  To stay in business, we had to figure out the scrap industry – quickly.

Competition is fierce among telecommunication service providers.  One factor customers and prospects use in making the decision which company to use is environmental-friendliness and sustainability.  For this article, we examine end-of-life electronic asset recycling as it relates to Green Telecom.

Telcos consistently upgrade technology in their networks.  This creates a problem.  With literally tons of legacy equipment being displaced annually that has no re-use demand, what is the right thing to do with these end-of-useful-life electronics?

The problem is international in scope and most other countries have passed or are passing legislation about how to deal with it.  Europe has created the strongest laws with the passing of the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive, which makes the manufacturers of the equipment responsible for recycling the equipment at the end of its life.  They have also conducted the most research and development to create technology for recycling the materials. 

Circuit boards with no re-use value because of obsolescence, damage or required repair are frequently disposed to scrap dealers for nothing or very little money.  Most people don’t realize, to their own detriment, the commodity makeup of a circuit board.  Below is a partial list compiled by the Technical University of Denmark from an assay they conducted.

MATERIALS FOUND IN ONE TON OF RANDOM ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT BOARDS
Material LBS/Ton
 

Central office asset disposition and recycling services have been a cornerstone of Associated Tele-Networking, Inc.’s (ATNI’s) successful business model. Our clients consist of tier one and tier two telecommunications service providers, most of whom have implemented major upgrades to their networks since the mid 2000’s. The equipment they displaced, legacy telecom, networking, IT and power generation gear from their central offices, data centers, cell sites, network operations cente