ISRI study: US e-scrap export ban would cost jobs

United States – A ban on US export of electronic scrap would hurt the domestic economy and displace domestic jobs, according to a new report released by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and prepared by economic research firm John Dunham and Associates.

The conclusion is in contrast to an earlier report released by the Coalition for American Electronics Recycling (CAER), which claimed an e-waste export ban would create new jobs domestically.

‘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’, Robin Wiener, president of ISRI, said in a statement. In 2011, 162,000 U.S. jobs were dependent on the export of scrap materials including used electronics, according to the report. ‘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 report reads.

It also challenges claims that a large portion of electronic scrap exports are sent for disposal, citing a recent study from the U.S. International Trade Commission.

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Source: Waste & Recycling News