City Of Long Beach Works With Local Company To Recycle ... · 4/14/2015 · m i natsp cu r –h...
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■ By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER Senior Writer The typical American home is full of electronic devices that store personal data; cell phones, computers, tablets, cable boxes and even home electric meters all contain private information about their users. As technology develops at an increasingly rapid pace, these items are becoming outdated more quickly and are being replaced with greater fre- quency. So what happens to these items once discarded? And what happens to all the personal data stored within them? The City of Long Beach uses a local company, e-Recycling of California, as its vendor for elec- tronic waste (e-waste) recycling. The company is one of the top three recyclers of e-waste in California and is ranked 11th in the nation for the volume of waste it handles – about 70 million pounds per year. Electronic devices discarded by Long Beach residents in their waste bins or in special pickups eventually end up at e-Recycling’s facility in Paramount, which also serves as its corporate headquarters. The company also services cities, government agencies, private businesses and individual consumers. According to Maureen Craine, vice president of marketing and business development, e- Recycling of California is the largest e-waste service provider for waste hauling companies. “E-Recycling is our service provider as far as anything the city collects,” Jim Kuhl, director of the Long Beach Environmental Services Bureau, told the Business Journal in an interview at e-Recycling’s headquarters. “So residents will put out, on a special collection, a TV or a computer or something and we’ll take it into our yard and stockpile it for e-Recycling.” While TVs represent most of the e-waste the city collects, other common items include digital video recorders, cable boxes and computers, according to Craine. “You’re looking at a big mix of electronics,” she said. Every few weeks, e-Recycling picks up the e-waste stockpiled by the city. “We’ll then take those information-containing devices and consolidate them and secure them,” Craine said, noting that, if an item cannot be fully destroyed and separated into parts for recycling at the Paramount facility, it is sent to the company’s processing plant in Irvine. “In the case of the City of Long Beach, some of what we see comes through the solid waste stream, meaning [individuals] aren’t necessarily discarding these items with any efficacy,” Craine said. “They either don’t feel it was important enough to take their own hard drives out, or they don’t know how to do it.” “Our staff is supposed to be sorting through those items when they come through a mixed waste stream and pulling out those information-containing devices and setting them aside,” Craine continued. Items with information stored on them, such as cell phone subscriber identity module (SIM) cards and hard drives, are locked in a secure staging area until they can be dismantled, she explained, calling e-Recycling a “gatekeeper” of that information. “We try and be that final steward of it before it is completely destructed,” she added. These measures are taken to ensure the data stored on these devices isn’t accessed, tampered with or stolen. Depending on the material and its source, e-waste items are dis- posed of via different processes. SIM cards, for instance, are so small that they are typically smashed on site by e-Recycling work- ers, who may use a tool as simple as a hammer. If a customer directly hands over a cell phone SIM card to e-Recycling – for example, at one of the collection events the company holds – a company employee would perform the destruction of the card directly in front of the client, Craine said. April 14-27 2015 City Of Long Beach Works With Local Company To Recycle Electronic Waste And Ensure Data Security At e-Recycling of California’s Paramount facility, workers dismantle electronic devices such as computers, TVs, and cell phones and separate the components by material type for recycling or reuse. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Evan Patrick Kelly)
Transcript of City Of Long Beach Works With Local Company To Recycle ... · 4/14/2015 · m i natsp cu r –h...
� By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER
Senior Writer
The typical American home isfull of electronic devices thatstore personal data; cell phones,computers, tablets, cable boxesand even home electric metersall contain private informationabout their users. As technologydevelops at an increasingly rapidpace, these items are becomingoutdated more quickly and arebeing replaced with greater fre-quency. So what happens tothese items once discarded? Andwhat happens to all the personaldata stored within them?The City of Long Beach uses alocal company, e-Recycling ofCalifornia, as its vendor for elec-tronic waste (e-waste) recycling.The company is one of the topthree recyclers of e-waste inCalifornia and is ranked 11th inthe nation for the volume of waste it handles – about 70 millionpounds per year. Electronic devices discarded by Long Beachresidents in their waste bins or in special pickups eventually endup at e-Recycling’s facility in Paramount, which also serves asits corporate headquarters.The company also services cities, government agencies, privatebusinesses and individual consumers. According to MaureenCraine, vice president of marketing and business development, e-Recycling of California is the largest e-waste service provider forwaste hauling companies.“E-Recycling is our service provider as far as anything thecity collects,” Jim Kuhl, director of the Long BeachEnvironmental Services Bureau, told the Business Journal in aninterview at e-Recycling’s headquarters. “So residents will putout, on a special collection, a TV or a computer or somethingand we’ll take it into our yard and stockpile it for e-Recycling.”While TVs represent most of the e-waste the city collects, othercommon items include digital video recorders, cable boxes andcomputers, according to Craine. “You’re looking at a big mix ofelectronics,” she said. Every few weeks, e-Recycling picks up the e-waste stockpiledby the city. “We’ll then take those information-containingdevices and consolidate them and secure them,” Craine said,noting that, if an item cannot be fully destroyed and separated
into parts for recycling at the Paramount facility, it is sent to thecompany’s processing plant in Irvine. “In the case of the City of Long Beach, some of what we seecomes through the solid waste stream, meaning [individuals]aren’t necessarily discarding these items with any efficacy,”Craine said. “They either don’t feel it was important enough totake their own hard drives out, or they don’t know how to do it.”“Our staff is supposed to be sorting through those items whenthey come through a mixed waste stream and pulling out thoseinformation-containing devices and setting them aside,” Crainecontinued. Items with information stored on them, such as cellphone subscriber identity module (SIM) cards and hard drives, arelocked in a secure staging area until they can be dismantled, sheexplained, calling e-Recycling a “gatekeeper” of that information.“We try and be that final steward of it before it is completelydestructed,” she added. These measures are taken to ensure the datastored on these devices isn’t accessed, tampered with or stolen.Depending on the material and its source, e-waste items are dis-posed of via different processes. SIM cards, for instance, are sosmall that they are typically smashed on site by e-Recycling work-ers, who may use a tool as simple as a hammer. If a customerdirectly hands over a cell phone SIM card to e-Recycling – forexample, at one of the collection events the company holds – acompany employee would perform the destruction of the carddirectly in front of the client, Craine said.
April 14-27 2015
City Of Long Beach Works With Local Company To Recycle Electronic Waste And Ensure Data Security
At e-Recycling of California’s Paramount facility, workers dismantle electronic devices such as computers, TVs,and cell phones and separate the components by material type for recycling or reuse. (Photograph by theBusiness Journal’s Evan Patrick Kelly)
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Ensuring the destruction of information on a hard drive is morecomplex. According to the company’s policy, the process“involves the destruction of hard drives in which the housingunit, printed circuit board, rare earth magnet, aluminum, steel,cast iron, ferrous (iron-based and magnetic)/non-ferrous metalsand hard drive discs are completely separated.” If the harddrive’s information disc is ceramic, it is physically broken onsite. If it is made of aluminum, it is sent to e-Recycling’s Irvinefacility to be smelted.E-Recycling of California also possesses equipment todestroy hard drives on site at businesses or at collection events,Craine said. The equipment is able to puncture through a harddrive’s housing unit as many times as necessary to destroy thedevice’s functionality. This service is performed at an addedcost, similar to when someone pays to shred a box full of sensi-tive documents, she noted.Data security is of particular importance to businesses dispos-ing of old electronics, Craine said. According to Kuhl, business-es that call the City of Long Beach about recycling their e-wasteare referred to e-Recycling, which can arrange on-site destruc-tion or an e-waste pickup. E-Recycling is the city’s trusted ven-dor for these services. “What we see is a lot of people holding these [e-waste]roundups in parking lots. You never know who those vendors areand how the material is being handled,” Kuhl said. Craine agreed,
saying that, in those cases, “There is a liability for the city.”Employees of e-Recycling of California undergo backgroundchecks, and the company holds several different kinds of insuranceto protect from liability. Craine recommended that any business or individual dispos-ing of information containing electronic devices should firstwipe those devices clean of any data before passing them on toa recycler. E-Recycling of California is able to recycle or reuse about 98percent of all materials from the items it receives, Craine said.That amounts to a lot of recycled material, considering that thecompany’s facility is full of stacks upon stacks of computer towersand TVs, and seemingly endless bins of smaller electronic itemslike circuit boards and remote controls.Ensuring that the majority of these goods end up recycled ratherthan in landfills is important in protecting the environment becausemost electronic items contain lead, Craine noted. Anything that illu-minates a picture – such as a computer monitor or flatscreen TV –has a higher content of lead than most electronics, she said. Otherelectronic devices, such as circuit boards, are soldered togetherusing smaller amounts of lead. She reflected, “Until you get manu-facturers producing these items with less risk [to the environment]and more responsibility, not a lot of this is going to change. That’sone of the reasons why we’re here.” �
Paramount-based e-Recycling of California is the City of Long Beach’s service provider for electronic-waste recycling. Pictured outside the company’s facility,from left, are: Noe Posada, e-Recycling’s operations manager; Maureen Craine, e-Recycling’s vice president of marketing and business development; JimKuhl, director of the Long Beach Environmental Services Bureau; and Leigh Behrens, recycling specialist for the Long Beach Environmental Services Bureau.(Photograph by the Business Journal’s Evan Patrick Kelly)
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