Martin Hart, President, TopLine Corporation

The electronics assembly industry produces tens of millions of pounds of solder waste and millions of pounds of lead-contaminated trash every year. Most people understand that this material is regulated, and has to be handled in an environmentally-responsible way and through legal avenues, but what many of those same people don't understand is that recyclers are not all created equal.

Because of the perception that solder companies are just as technically capable and focused on recycling as companies who recycle as their sole business, many EMS and OEM companies simply allow their solder vendor to do their recycling without any consideration that there might be a better way. While many people may view recyclers as "Fred Sanford", and assume that all of their services are the same, part of our mission at Conecsus is to change that perception through education, fair business practices, and an emphasis on transparency and forward-looking environmental technology investment.

When people think of their waste streams, they don't necessarily view them as a potential long-term liability. They generally just treat it as a commodity, not realizing that solder dross as it is generated and collected today is actually almost entirely recoverable.

Many solder companies realize that the gap between reality and perception exists, and therefore, do very little to educate generators or invest in technologies that would serve their customers better. Because of this education deficit, many generators simply look at dollars and cents in estimates, not realizing that there's myriad reasons that a quote rarely ends up being the same as the check amount when the shipment is settled, and this doesn't even begin to touch on the fact that some of the material generated is not even legally allowed to ship with the dross on a common carrier.

All of these factors are what have made Conecsus the fastest growing recycler serving the electronics market, because our focus is not on selling solder, but investing on technology that keeps our clients in compliance, educating them as to the true recoverable amounts of metal in their dross, and being transparent as to why and how they are paid for their material.