CRTs

Cathode ray tube devices, long the major headache material for the electronics recycling industry, continue to make up less and less of the end-of-life stream, but they're nowhere near gone completely, based on state program data and interviews with e-scrap processors.

Two e-scrap collectors that allegedly sent cathode ray tube glass to failed Midwest processor Recycletronics recently received demand letters from the U.S. EPA seeking compensation for more than $1.3 million in cleanup costs from Superfund remediation activities in 2022.

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery has proposed increasing some payment rates for processors who participate in the state e-scrap program. 

ITAD and cathode ray tube device processor Universal Recycling Technologies announced that its e-Stewards certification will be suspended for 30 days, following an OSHA fine over worker exposure to lead and cadmium. 

Kuusakoski US will close its two Illinois electronics and CRT glass processing facilities and exit the U.S. altogether, refocusing on its European operations after what the company described as severe, prolonged financial challenges in the U.S.

Sandwiched between a quiet residential neighborhood and a tree-lined multi-use trail, a 10-year-old cathode ray tube and assorted e-scrap stockpile in West Bend, Wisconsin, is finally being removed and disposed of at an estimated cost of $3.2 million.

A federal judge recently rejected an appeal by the leader of failed Wisconsin e-scrap firm 5R Processors, who is currently serving a sentence for tax crimes.

A number of processors that supplied cathode ray tube glass to multiple Arizona warehouse locations leased by failed downstream outlet Closed Loop Refining and Recovery have settled in a major lawsuit filed by the landlords of the property.

Teck Resources, one of the few remaining end markets for CRT glass in the Americas, is considering building an electric vehicle recycling plant. 

Another nail in the CRT coffin arrived in December in the form of the U.S. EPA's updated Waste Reduction Model (WARM) tool.