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Grab a coffee or your beverage of choice and take a 10-minute break to see our top three picks to get you up to speed - quickly - on what's been going on in the manufacturing industry this month.
2020 State Of Manufacturing: COVID-19 Impacts Point Toward A New Digital Era
Forbes recently released the results of the 2020 State of Manufacturing Report that not only looked at the somewhat obvious downsides the pandemic has had for manufacturers, but also the opportunities that have arisen.
The pros: Ninety-seven percent believe COVID-19 has created business opportunities, specifically in the areas of innovation, supply chain resilience, and operational costs.
The cons: A remarkable 89 percent of the respondents experienced a drop in sales, component and material pricing increases, lengthened production lead times, and delayed or canceled product launches.
Global Electronic Waste Up 21% in Five Years...and Recycling Isn’t Keeping Up
While it's a shocking statistic, it's also expected to double on top of that by 2030. The World Economic Forum released the report on July 20th of this year, but we should note that these are 2019 figures, so it's likely already worse. We all know instinctively that recycling is the right thing to do, but this global e-waste crisis is extremely unfortunate for a few reasons:
Toxic substances contained in e-waste, such as mercury, brominated flame retardants, chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons are released into the environment and harm the people (and wildlife) who live, work and play near e-waste scrapyards.
It also contributes directly to global warming. Dumped temperature-exchange equipment, found in fridges and air conditioners, can slowly release greenhouse gases.
Aside from toxins, e-waste also contains precious metals and useful raw materials, such as gold, silver, copper and platinum. The total value of all this discarded as e-waste in 2019 has been conservatively valued at US $57 billion - yes, that's billion with a "b".
This is why Responsible Recycling (R2 and R2v3) standards are so important, now more than ever, which brings us to our third and final top story of the month. To be part of the solution and learn about getting your facility certified, contact us.
SERI board adopts revised R2 standard
July began with a bang - the much-awaited new R2v3 standards were released by SERI on July 1st. SERI told Recycling Today that R2’s full life cycle approach for managing electronics aligns with circular economy principles, extending the life of reusable electronics when feasible.
“This approach not only benefits the environment by reducing the environmental footprint of electronics, [but] it [also] provides social and economic benefits to hundreds of millions of people worldwide by bridging the digital divide with affordable, refurbished devices for those without the resources to purchase new products.”