Plastinum To Open Calif. E-Waste Recycling Plant

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Plastinum Polymer Technologies Corp. said Wednesday it plans to move its headquarters to California, the site of its first E-waste recycling plant that will open in September. As many as five additional recycling plants could follow by 2010.

Plastinum, which trades on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board under the ticker symbol PLNU, claims it has the technology that gives its E-waste customers full recycling capability.

It uses BLENDYMER, a polymer processing technology that provides for complete fusion of previously incompatible polymers using a mechano-chemical process. The result is a solid amalgam with physical and mechanical properties that can be considered a new thermoplastic material.

In addition to the E-waste recycling market, Plastinum plans to commercialize the technology through applications in the virgin plastic markets, or polymer alloys.

"Currently, E-waste in its final stage consists of 88 percent mixed plastic and is virtually un-recyclable," said Plastinum CEO Jacques Mot in a statement. "Today, this waste ends up in landfills or is disposed of via toxic burning or other environmental and health damaging practices. Our technology eliminates the final toxic hurdle and makes it possible for the first time to deliver closed loop mixed-plastic recycling."

Plastinum believes its technology will work well in this sector because it can treat various types of plastic scrap without the need for chemical additives or separation of the plastics, the company said. Currently, the mixed plastic computer scrap industry sorts and separates the different plastics by polymer type before recycling.

The announcement comes amidst a growing list of state laws addressing E-waste recycling. In June, the Electronic Industries Alliance advocated a national recycling program for household televisions and IT equipment.

Corporate E-waste recycling also is becoming a hot topic among IT manufacturers, such as Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard, which have both recently announced aggressive recycling goals and successes.

On Tuesday, Peabody, Mass.-based Converge announced it has helped its large clients dispose of 35 million pounds of excess, obsolete and retired electronic equipment in 2006. About 25 million pounds of the material processed was remarketed globally for reuse, the company said. That represents more than $28 million in residual value from the remarketed electronic equipment.