Iron Mountain's asset life cycle business increased its volume of used electronics processed during the first quarter, but a depressed market for electronic components meant much lower revenues.
Market analysis firm Gartner says shipments of new PCs plummeted during the first quarter of 2023, with brand owners offering steep discounts to clear out inventory. An analyst estimates prices will rise moderately through this year, however.
As demand for electric vehicles declines, prices for lithium, cobalt and copper are sliding down, potentially putting lithium-ion battery recyclers in a tight spot.
Metals producer Mitsubishi Materials purchased a stake in a startup working to build a smelter in Indiana. Meanwhile, the company unveiled plans to substantially increase e-scrap recycling capacity at its Japanese smelters.
A family of southwestern U.S. ITAD and e-scrap recycling companies dramatically increased their profit margins last year, on both the reuse and recycling sides of the business.
After initially forecasting an increase in global smartphone shipments, the International Data Corporation now says it expects shipments to decline about 1.1% in 2023.
ITAD and data center decommissioning services provider ITRenew brought in $213 million in revenue in 2022 for Iron Mountain, after the records management corporation bought ITRenew early in the year.