E-waste market to triple as more businesses develop formal policies

Was talking to an electronic waste (e-waste) management company CEO yesterday (more on his business next week) who mentioned that something like 30 percent of all Fortune 500 businesses now have some sort of formal strategy for handling the lifecycle management and disposal of their hardware technology. Frankly, this seems pitifully low to me. But it appears this will change dramatically over the next four years, if a recent research report from ABI Research is any indication.

According the firm's new "e-Waste Recovery and Recycling" report predicts that the market for e-waste recovery will almost triple from $5.7 billion last year to almost $14.7 billion by 2014. That's a worldwide figure, not just the United States.

Big factors in the growth include better recycling technologies, the rise of a bonafide recycling infrastructure and legal framework for handling electronics and technology, and the growing importance of technologies in emerging markets, according to the report. It urges businesses facing this issue to keep tabs on a number of initiatives, notably the actions of the Basel Action Network, a non-profit that is keeping the heat on governments around the world when it comes to e-cycling policies, and its e-Stewards Initiative, which is the certification that BAN recommends businesses look for in potential technology recycling partners.