Duquesne University

e-Recycling Industry

10/2/2013

Background: In this environmental analysis paper, I picked the same industry, Electronic Waste or E-Waste, and the same company, eLoop LLC, from my previous current issue paper. In many cases, E-Waste gets misinterpreted as waste coming from IT equipment. In general, Ewaste does not get generated only from IT waste, but also gets generated from household appliances, such as refrigerators, air-conditioners, cell phones, stereo systems and consumable electronic items to computers discarded by their users. Environmental Analysis The environment factors are external factors that include broad external factors that significantly control eLoop and Electronic Recycling or E-Recycle industry. Although these factors are generally outside the control of eLoop, it is important to understand these factors in order to assess the strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat of the company. The environment factors consist of: demographic, economic, political and legal, socio-cultural, and technological. Demographic Factor According to US census, below is the population data in Pennsylvania: People Quick Facts Population, 2012 estimate Population, 2010 (April 1) estimates base Population, percent change, April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012 Pennsylvania USA 12,763,536 313,914,040 12,702,379 308,747,508 0.50% 1.70%

The data showed there is a 0.5% increase in Pennsylvanias population from 2010 to 2012. This means that the number of E-Waste might increase at least by 0.5% in 2 years.1 Another data was populated from Demographics now. It clearly showed that in 2018, Pennsylvanians households will consume more electronics. This is another indica tor that E-Waste in Pennsylvania will increase as well.
Consumer Expenditure (Average Household Annual) Electronic Detail in PA Entertainment: Video & Audio Equip.

2013 $965.96 $130.22 $87.70 $38.45

2018 $1,057.8 8 $157.87 $105.37 $44.28

Video, Audio and Gaming Equipment Household Furnishing & Equip.: House-wares & Small Appliances Computer Hardware House-wares and Small Electric Kitchen Appliances Telephones And Accessories

The information above shows that the demographic factor is an opportunity for eLoop. Pennsylvania will generate more E-Waste in the future.

http://www.demographicsnow.com/

Economic Factor Consumer Expenditures (Average Household Annual Expenditures): Total Households in PA Median Household Income in PA Total Average Household Expenditure in PA 2013 2018 2,316,416 2,341,743 $53,400 $45,986 $58,461 $48,853

According the DemographicsNow data, in Pennsylvania, the median household income will increase about 16% and the average household expenditure will increase about 20%.2 Increasing household income and consumer expenditure will create more opportunity for eLoop in the upcoming years. Unemployment Rate

Unemployment is slowly going down. E-Recycling industry helps reducing unemployment rate by creating new jobs. This helps the US economy in general as well as giving the company strength. Political and Legal Factor Due to new government regulations, political and legal factor are constantly changing which create barrier to entry. In a way, this is good for eLoop because there will be less competitors entering the market. However, with tied regulations, eLoop cannot expand its territory easily. There are government agency and environmental group that influence congress to pass environment friendly legislation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a government agency that addresses domestic public health and environmental challenges. For EPA, cleaning up e-waste is a global priority with an aim to reduce harm from US exports of e -waste and to improve the safe handling of used electronics in developing countries. The National Strategy for Electronics
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http://www.demographicsnow.com/

Stewardship includes goals and actions, both domestic and international, that EPA and the rest of the Federal government will undertake to improve electronics stewardship, thereby reducing negative effects of the growing stream of e-waste.3 Basel Action Network (BAN) is a non government agency that works preventing the globalization of the toxic chemical crisis. The mission of the organization is to stop toxic waste get exported from rich to poorer countries and to prevent the people and the environment get poisoned and polluted from E-Waste trading. 4 Both EPA and BAN will work together with international groups to address the issues of e-waste and continue to improve the process of recycling and disposing E-Waste. In turn, this forces the E-Recycling industry to constantly navigate through new regulations. eLoop will follow the regulations and operate as a good corporate citizen. However, this is a threat to the company because it will increase companys costs and lower companys profit. Socio-Cultural There is a significant growing concern in the US and globally about global warming, air pollution, and water pollution. Some of the sources are coming from excessive burning of fossil fuel and EWaste toxic. In socio-cultural factor, the society is more aware of preserving the environment. The current trend is to go green and recycle more waste. This provides an opportunity to eLoop and E-Recyclers. On the other, since eLoop has to outsource some of its recycling process, these partners might not follow the proper way to handle the hazardous materials. This brings concerns to landfills contamination. This creates a weakness to eLoop due to this uncontrollable factor. Technology Factor With the advancement of faster computer chip and better engineering, technology has tremendously help improving many industries processes. For eLoop, technological development creates new opportunities as well as threats to the company. New technology can help reduce the companys costs by improving process efficiency, creating safer work environment, and advancing waste disposal methods. However, it also creates threat by allowing new players to enter the competition. Government might deregulate the policy if the process of disposing waste is improved and safer. Summary of General Environment Analysis After analyzing the external factors, there are more opportunities than treats to the eLoop or ERecycling industry. Even though the government is forcing tied regulation, the number of E-Waste will keep growing and someone has to take care of it.

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http://www.epa.gov/international/about/index.html http://www.ban.org/about/#whytoxic