Big news on the E-Waste Frontier

Alcoa made a serious commitment to sustainability in the consumer electronics space this week by becoming an enterprise member of  the Basel Action Network’s e-Stewards Certification Program, and by investing $10 million in Electronics Recyclers International, the largest E-Waste recycler in the United States. 

Consumer electronics are becoming more “aluminized,” i.e., the industry is incorporating more aluminum into product design to help with heat dissipation, to make products lighter in weight, more durable, and – let’s face it – to make CE products look more cool.  Aluminum is becoming an increasing part of the next wave of CE products, like the MacBook Pro™, the Amazon Kindle™ and the Nokia N8™ mobile device…

But at the same time, product life cycles are shortening…meaning an increase in e-waste and an opportunity for leadership.  The minority stake in ERI will enable Alcoa to bring its expertise in recycling to the growing challenge of e-waste, enhancing the role the aluminum industry plays in making electronics more sustainable. 

Alcoa and ERI have already partnered on the successful “AluminateTM” iPhone App enabling consumers to find the most convenient locations to recycle near them.  This investment broadens the Alcoa/ERI relationship in a big way. 

Want to read more?  Jump to this link to see what GreenBiz had to say:

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/03/02/alcoa-enters-e-waste-business-eri-partnership