Quote Originally Posted by NobleMetalWorks View Post
Fairly recently and perhaps because of complaints of the third world countries that it affects most, laws have been enforced and passed to prevent lower grade e-waste being sent overseas from the US. E-Waste refineries used to be able to cherry pick the very best boards, sending the lower grade boards overseas. Because of new restrictions, and new licensing requirements, these refineries are not required to process all the material they receive instead of cherry picking only the very best. This brings down the percentages that are being seen today.
This is not a statement of who is right or wrong in this argument, but a simple observation. The interview subject in the third video at 9:38 stated that western refuse dealers should be required to lower the amount of toxic material in their waste. That is funny, considering that most of those boards are simply returning home to China. He seemed to be a typical government stooge wagging a finger at the west.

Noble, are you taking this excess material that is being offered to you from other refiners or were you just stating that is being offered? I am just curious. This thread is interesting in that e-waste recycling seems be in a place where supply and demand are both high, but because the infrastructure is not there to handle the supply it is causing prices for boards to drop. I have just never observed a "new" industry taking off. My question I suppose is that considering supply and demand are about equal, is it profitable for you to take these boards that have been cherry picked. My hunch is that is probably pretty profitable for you considering that if it can be shipped overseas for a profit, you can make the difference between shipping and cheap labor in China/India/Ghana. Or, do the added safety precautions you take that I have read about in many of your other posts strip out a lot of this profit?