The second aspect is to ensure that the products are handled correctly from an environmental standpoint, which on a top-level basis means they don't want to see their product and their brand name incorrectly handled and in, let's say, a dump somewhere in a developing world, where it should not be. So that means in handling their products to satisfy all environmental regulations, whether it be local, country or, in a sense, global, to optimize environmental and economic aspects by re-using and then recycling. Lastly, and increasingly more important, ensuring the resource recovery of the materials that went into their products - the metals, plastics, etc.

JB: For companies that are looking to start recycling their e-waste, or even companies that already have e-waste recycling programs, what should they look for when they're looking for an e-waste recycler?

JD: One of the principle things is to ask for and to audit where everything goes after it leaves their business. For the most part, companies that do e-waste recycling have what are called downstreams, and those are companies that handle the materials that leave their site. For instance, an e-waste recycler is generally - not always, but generally - not a steel producer, so the materials coming out of the process, whether it be steel, aluminum, plastics, and most importantly the printed circuit board assemblies or integrated circuits, to ensure that those are handled correctly all the way through the reverse supply chain. A big part of that is auditing to, first of all, ask where it goes, and second of all, audit and actually go out and see where that material goes.

Of course, another more obvious one is to ensure that they have all the permitting needed to operate - whether it's in Silicon Valley or Chennai, India, or in Argentina - to make sure that all the correct permitting is held by the company. Thirdly, one that we strongly endorse is have long-term contracts with the company. Look for companies that have a history and are really in this business for the long-term. Physically see the permits, look for references and generally look, again, for companies that are not simply brokers of the material but that actually process the material, and then provide you exactly transparently how the material flows ultimately back into new electronics products.

JB: Along those same lines, within e-waste are there any types of materials that cannot be recycled? Should businesses be concerned when they're purchasing equipment about what that product contains and whether or not all the parts of it can be fully recovered or recycled?

JD: Strangely enough, the parts that we have a problem with not being able to recycle tend to be more packaging type products than they the actual products themselves. At our main site in Fremont, California, we track on a monthly basis what percentage of our materials actually go to the waste management company, and that tends to be less than half a percent. The materials, again, packaging and in some cases the internal packaging in the manufacturing process, two examples are anti-static bags, which hold electronics products during the manufacturing and supply chain process to build them. If anyone knows of a way to recycle anti-static bags please let us know, because we have not been able to find one yet.

Secondly, there's a certain type of packaging used in the telecom and networking industry, which is plastic foam or LDPE fastened to corrugate, to cardboard, and that one also can be re-used and we re-use both these products extensively, but when they can no longer be re-used, unfortunately those go to landfill and we're looking for solutions for those. Reciprocally, when buying new product, items to avoid is actually kind of hard to say. One mantra in the recycling business is to always buy recycled and thereby close the loop of the recycling process.

However, that is a bit difficult to do. Certainly, products that use aluminum, for instance most of the new Apple products, the casing is actually aluminum, and aluminum is a very readily recycled product globally, so that's something to look for. Again, looking at the items that make up both the packaging and the product and see if the materials are easily recycled, and to look at - for instance, Europe has eliminated certain hazardous substances by the Reduction in Hazardous Substances Act, and to support that.

JB: AER operates in a number of different countries. Within those countries, do you run into conflicting or widely different laws that cover e-waste?

JD: Absolutely. In fact, this one I could talk for hours on, or days, because it's highly important to us in AER's role to support our own environmental goals globally and our customers. Explicitly, AER operates in both the developing world and the developed world because, as I think everyone knows, most of the electronics products are actually produced in the developing world. As such, we have facilities in Guadalajara, Mexico; Penang, Malaysia; and Chennai, India, and we work in those countries with the local municipalities and the federal governments to create, we believe, the most optimal e-waste laws. It can be a complicated thing as countries are developing their e-waste laws.