kjavanb123 said:
Scott,
Thanks for your informative posts, I did some research and realized SIMS recycling has a strong present in UAE, and they recycle materials locally and ship to smelters in UK.
Jordan, never thought about it, I had the impression that southern China and Ghana in Africa are the biggest ewaste landfill of the world.
Again thanks for your info
Kj
You will never be able to purchase e-waste from any location in West Africa, it's all processed there. It's shipped there, for the most part, illegally as used computer systems to benefit the people who reside in those countries, but it's really being shipped there to process. After the gold is recovered, the "gold dust" is often used in the scams you commonly find being offered on sites like Ali Baba, and TradeKey, etc.
China as well has been buying huge amounts of e-scrap for years now, when I was really active in international trade I was selling 40ft containers of e-scrap to China on a weekly basis. China as well is not a place you will be able to purchase scrap from.
So far as processing e-waste, you can be assured no matter how "honest" the company is, if you are not representing or having someone represent your e-scrap at the refinery, you will be ripped off. Even if you are representing it, you need to do so properly and need to understand the correct questions to ask, and when to insinuate yourself, observe the operation and understand what is happening, otherwise again, you will be ripped off. It's just a simple fact of life.
The reason I suggested Jordan is because there are a lot of older computers that people are still using, that have better yields than newer computer systems. There might be an opportunity to sell newer computer systems and receive the older ones while doing so. If the computer systems are broken down in Jordan, you can have the higher grade material shipped to the US to process and not worry about the taxes, as the US signed it's 3rd free trade agreement with the country of Jordan. Jordan and the US are very friendly towards each other. In that way, shipping to the US you could more easily represent the material, and ensure you are getting all the value.
I wouldn't have any scrap processed in the UAE, ever. They don't actually do the processing there, it's shipped off, and there is no guarantee they are even paying you out on what your material yields, most likely they see it as purchasing scrap from you, and will pay you whatever they want, not to mention the length of time it would take to transact a deal of that nature, it's my understanding if you are having it processed in the UAE (which is processed in China) you will not see a pay out for 2-3 months at least.
Scott