For Immediate Release
May 29, 2013
Mark Carpenter
[email protected]
Total ban would restrict economic growth and job creation
Washington, DC – A report by John Dunham and Associates, released today by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) highlights the relationship between economic growth and export activities of electronics, or e-scrap. It further puts to rest any notion that a ban on e-scrap exports would result in more competition, increased jobs, and lower the costs for consumers.
“The Dunham report reaffirms that a total ban on the export of used electronics only harms the economy by reducing competition among responsible recyclers in the e-recycling industry,” said Robin Wiener, president of ISRI. “Not only would workers in the export business and those supporting it lose their jobs, but as larger e-recyclers crowd out the market those working at small and mid-sized companies would be displaced. Less competition also means higher costs for consumers who in turn may find it cheaper to discard used electronic products rather than recycle.”
The electronic scrap recycling industry employs more than 30,000 workers, a more than 5-fold increase from 6,000 in 2002. The Dunham report, “Assessment of Efforts to Restrict the Trade of Electronic Scrap on Electronic Scrap Recycling Industry Jobs and Exports,” analyzes the effects on those jobs and the economy were a ban on e-scrap exports to occur. It predicts that many smaller firms would be forced out of business and workers let go as a result. As the findings state, “Rather than create opportunity for small domestic businesses, [a ban] will consolidate business to those firms that already have the necessary machinery and manpower. It will crowd out small existing businesses and inhibit the entry of newer businesses.”
The Dunham report disputes an earlier report by the Coalition for American Electronics Recycling (CAER) claiming a ban on e-scrap exports would help the domestic economy. As the Dunham paper indicates, the CAER report used rudimentary survey methodology, relying on a small sampling of its own members, many who have a vested interest if a ban was implemented. Furthermore, CAER fails to analyze the e-scrap market outside that of its own membership, falsely assuming that anything not recycled by one of its members is exported. Not only does this exclude used electronics responsibly recycled by others in the industry or sent to landfills, but it also ignores an ITC report from earlier this year showing that only 17.2 percent (by weight) of used electronic products collected in the U.S. are exported. As reported by Dunham, “adding jobs to CAER members while cutting deeply into the rest of the industry does not “create” jobs, it displaces jobs.
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The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI)
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) is the Voice of the Recycling Industry™. ISRI represents more than 1,700 companies in 21 chapters nationwide that process, broker and industrially consume scrap commodities, including metals, paper, plastics, glass, rubber, electronics and textiles. With headquarters in Washington, DC, the Institute provides education, advocacy, and compliance training, and promotes public awareness of the vital role recycling plays in the U.S. economy, global trade, the environment and sustainable development. For more information about ISRI, visit www.ISRI.org.