Sircel Limited

Congratulations to the 3,474 households from Sutherland Shire Council who participated in the council's free e-waste collection day earlier this month.    You helped fill a whopping 17 hook bins of e-waste which will be ethically recycled by Sircel, right here in Australia. Thanks to you and the waste management team at the council, we have prevented tonnes of e-waste from being dumped in landfills, degrading over time and leaching into soils and waterways.    From here, these old household electronic devices will be mechanically processed and the commodities, such as copper and aluminium, will be fed back into the circular economy to find a new life and ongoing use.    Sircel: better for business, the community and the planet.

Today Sircel CEO Anthony Karam presented a keynote on “Making better possible: taking the ‘waste’ out of ‘e-waste’” at Waste Expo Australia. In a room full of waste and recycling businesses Sircel stood out. Because we’re neither - we’re a green technology business. Sure, recycling is a significant part of what we do. We can’t regenerate the volumes of commodities that we do every day without it. But classifying as a “green technology” company has helped us attract the right talent, shift our positioning and processes to see the broader picture – and opportunities – within the sector. When we come to events like this, we can see that the conversation is expanding across the sector and there's great knowledge-building around what best practices look like. #WasteExpo #eWaste

E-Waste: it’s the overlooked challenge for Australia’s largest companies.   Highlights (and lowlights) from our recent in-depth analysis on where e-waste sits on the corporate agenda reveal that only 19% mention e-waste in their most recent sustainability reports.   This raises a critical question: why are so many industry leaders not taking Australia’s fastest-growing waste stream seriously?   While it’s encouraging to see some companies taking steps towards addressing e-waste, truly solving this crisis needs prioritisation by our country’s most influential businesses. Responsible e-waste recycling offers not just reputational benefits, but also a direct positive impact on the Australian economy, helps mitigate environmental harm, and supports the achievement of corporate ESG and Scope 3 goals.   We’re pushing for greater awareness and action on e-waste.  Read the complete report on our blog.   #Sustainability #EWaste #CircularEconomy #ESG #ASX #ResponsibleRecycling

E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream on the planet. It’s a wicked problem and raises many questions about corporate responsibility.   So we asked ourselves: what are Australia’s largest companies doing to address the e-waste crisis?   To find out, we analysed the latest sustainability reports from the #ASX Top 200 and discovered that while most are committed to broader #ESG goals, e-waste consistently falls by the wayside.   And the cost of inaction is huge. Ongoing environmental degradation, increasing commodity prices as mining becomes increasingly problematic, and a widening gap between public expectations and company performance.   A lack-of transparency from organisations on their e-waste adds fuel to the fire. Many businesses don’t know where their e-waste goes for disposal, some don’t treat it with the same urgency as paper and cardboard recycling, while others don’t bother disclosing the amount of e-waste they produce.   You can download the complete report here: https://lnkd.in/gPPbvAK2

"Sircel boss Anthony Karam wants ASX companies to step up on e-waste."   That's the headline you'll see across national newspapers including The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun today, #InternationalEWasteDay.   It's the core finding in our just-released report titled "Plugging Australia's E-Waste Gap."   We commissioned an investigative report on how Australia's Top ASX 200 are reporting on e-waste. The results are extremely concerning and can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gPPbvAK2   Anthony discussed the report with journalist Matt Bell, who stated that "Australia's largest companies are ignoring the world's fastest growing waste stream...[and] valuable commodities are being shipped overseas due to disinterested boardrooms."   Is your business doing enough to address our national e-waste crisis? We own and operate Australia's largest dedicated e-waste recycling business — get in touch to discuss how we can "plug the gap" with your e-waste management.

Breaking News: Just one in five ASX 200 companies mention e-waste in their sustainability reports.   Our just-released research report, “Plugging Australia’s E-waste the Gap”, analyses the significant gap between the reality of the e-waste crisis and the way it is being reported by Australia’s top 200 companies.   E-Waste is the world’s fastest growing waste stream yet, based on our analysis of their latest sustainability reports, the way most of our largest and most influential companies manage it is disproportionate to need.   Many businesses don’t know where their e-waste goes for disposal, some don’t treat it with the same urgency as paper and cardboard recycling, while others don’t bother disclosing the amount of e-waste they produce.   How are you reporting on e-waste? How does that compare to your industry as a whole? #IEWD #InternationalEWasteDay #Ewaste #ESG #CSR

Last month, our CEO Anthony Karam and Group Commercial Officer Mark Ryan had the honour of presenting at the Australian Government Senate Enquiry into Waste Reduction and Recycling. The enquiry focused on two key objectives: 1. Increasing waste reduction and recycling success. 2. Empowering the transition to a Circular Economy. Anthony and Mark were thrilled to shared that Sircel already operates a large-scale, modular, and highly scalable solution for e-waste that: -- Diverts up to 100% of e-waste from landfills -- Recovers all valuable resources and commodities from e-waste -- Feeds those recovered resources directly back into manufacturing The real challenge lies in shifting our approach at a macro level. We are hopeful that the Enquiry can drive impactful recommendations by defining e-waste as its own category, separate from general waste discussions, and guiding the Australian Government towards a unified, national legislative framework for e-waste management. By addressing these challenges with urgency, Australia can lead globally in e-waste management, efficiently recover resources in an environmentally friendly manner, and support local manufacturing with key industrial inputs. #CircularEconomy #EWaste #Sustainability #Recycling #WasteReduction Read our complete submission to the Senate Enquiry here: https://lnkd.in/gRX56qNr

Australia: we're a solar powerhouse with an e-waste challenge. And Sircel now has the solution. We are opening Australia's most advanced solar panel recycling facility, right here in Parkes, NSW. Australia leads the world in per capita PV energy generation -- our abundance of sunshine and strong adoption rates of renewable energy are driving the installation of solar panels at an unprecedented rate. However, while we’re harnessing the sun’s power, the number of solar PV installations that are nearing end-of-life further heighten our national e-waste crisis. The forecast for e-waste from solar panels is alarming — an 18-fold increase is predicted between 2019 and 2030. Solar farms, manufacturers, installers and retailers need to consider: What happens when solar panels reach the end of their 20-year lifespan? Historically, most end-of-life panels end up in landfills. It’s time to rethink how we manage solar panel waste. Let’s discuss: What solutions do you have in place for handling solar e-waste? Connect with us today: https://lnkd.in/esiv-KYz #SolarEnergy #Sustainability #EWaste #CircularEconomy

We look forward to the outcomes of this much-needed trial, designed to support effective removal and recycling of problematic batteries. At present, we have to reject reinforced products with embedded batteries, such as massage guns. Unfortunately, the complex triage process to remove embedded batteries doesn't make ethical recycling a viable option for these products. Too often they end up in landfill. As we know, the problem starts with design. Manufacturers need to build end-of-life management into product design, including their batteries and safe removal. We provide manufacturing clients advice in this area, and we hope that trials like this further reinforce the need for this approach.

What is waste? Something you throw away when it’s reached the end of its useful life, right? At Sircel, we see things differently. We know there’s plenty of “useful life” in old electronics. Locked inside most unwanted devices are valuable commodities – copper, steel, aluminium – that can be unlocked with the right processing, and commitment. Those valuable commodities can, and should, be used in manufacturing thereby alleviating the need for mining virgin materials. We have the technical know-how and the large-scale equipment to unlock these commodities and feed them back into the circular economy. And we’re processing tonnes every day, right here in Australia. Now, we’re campaigning to re-classify what is known as waste more accurately as a source of valuable resources. Who’s with us?