Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., urged the Commerce Department to develop “a comprehensive strategy to address unnecessary consumer costs, mitigate e-waste, and restore sanity and certainty to the process of purchasing new electronics.” Such a move would “follow the EU’s lead” after the European Commission’s recent ruling “obligating electronics manufacturers to adopt a common charger for mobile devices” by 2024 (see 2206090048), the senators said in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo released Friday. “Consumers frequently must pay for new specialized charging equipment and accessories for their different devices. This is not merely an annoyance; it can be a financial burden.” As “specialized chargers become obsolete with the introduction of new products, or as consumers change the brand of phone or device that they use, their outdated chargers are usually just thrown away,” the senators said: “When electronics are not disposed of properly, e-waste can spread toxins in water, pollute soil, and degrade the air we breathe.” The EU “has wisely acted in the public interest by taking on powerful technology companies over this consumer and environmental issue,” the senators said: The U.S. “should do the same.”

New rules for device chargers would make it easier for consumers and cut e-waste, the European Parliament said Wednesday after agreeing on its negotiating position with EU governments on amendments to the Radio Equipment Directive. Other changes to the directive floated by the European Commission in September include provisions ending the need for consumers to buy new chargers and cables every time they buy new small or medium-sized portable electronic devices. Mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones and headsets, handheld videogame consoles and portable speakers rechargeable via a wired cable would have to be equipped with a USB Type-C port, regardless of the manufacturer, with exemptions only for devices too small to have such a port, such as health trackers and smartwatches. Legislators want clear information on devices about charging options and harmonized charging. The plan is to avoid market fragmentation, continue to reduce environmental waste, make chargers more convenient for users, and avoid the "lock-in" effects that keep consumers tied to a single device maker, they said.

Lithium-ion battery recycler Li-Cycle completed commercial agreements to source nickel-bearing lithium-ion battery scrap and other materials scrap from LG Energy Solution plants in North America and to sell LG Chem up to 20,000 metric tons of nickel sulphate produced at Li-Cycle’s Rochester, New York, “hub” now under construction, said the companies Thursday. With the agreements now signed, LG Energy Solution and LG Chem will proceed with plans to invest $50 million in Li-Cycle in two tranches, with the investment expected to be completed “in full” by May 13, they said.

Sinclair is encouraging its employees and viewers to recycle household batteries at a Batteries Plus location or through their local municipalities under its “Sinclair Green” promotional campaign running through April in honor of Earth Month, said Sinclair Thursday. Each of more than 700 Batteries Plus locations will accept up to five pounds of household batteries and recycle them free of charge for residential customers in April, it said. Batteries Plus estimates more than 3 billion batteries are thrown away across the U.S. in an average year, said Sinclair.

Gadget Guard is partnering with recycler Newaya to offer a program allowing customers to trade in their old or broken phones for up to $700 cash in return, said the tech accessories company Thursday. The program’s goal is to keep 500 phones out of landfills in celebration of Earth Month in April, it said. The program refurbishes and resells old phones in 20 countries, it said.

Smartphone trade-in specialist ecoATM Gazelle raised $75 million in “new growth equity” from existing investor Cowen Sustainable Advisors to speed its global expansion and support its “product extensions,” said the company Monday. It will use the funds to build and deploy thousands of “automated retail fulfillment kiosks” across the U.S., Europe and Asia and support new market launches “with increased multi-channel marketing campaigns and operational investments,” it said. The company has collected 28 million used smartphones, “indicative of the growing and critical demand for technology recycling,” it said.

Best Buy is testing a new recycling program in St. Louis, offering free doorstep pickup of old electronics and appliances, it said Monday. The program is available to the first 1,000 customers to make an appointment. The retailer will pick up old tech products “regardless of where it was bought, how old it is or who made it,” it said, but pickups are limited to one large item -- a TV or appliance -- plus an unlimited number of smaller items, including cameras and cables, it said. Customers can also recycle or trade in electronics at Best Buy stores.

Samsung seeks a court order declaring that its e-waste contractor Vintage Tech is “obligated to defend and indemnify” the tech company for “all costs, fees, expenses, and liabilities incurred” in two lawsuits alleging Samsung was partly culpable for the improper disposal of whole CRTs and processed CRT glass, argued a complaint (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The two lawsuits, filed in August in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, alleged Vintage subcontracted the e-cycling work to a sham recycler, Closed Loop Refining and Recovery, which stockpiled and abandoned millions of pounds of e-waste in two large Ohio warehouses, much of it still bearing the Samsung logo. Garrison Southfield Park and Olymbec USA are suing to recover the cleanup costs, naming Closed Loop, Vintage, Samsung and others as co-defendants. Vintage refused to defend, indemnify and hold Samsung “harmless against the claims asserted” in the warehouses' suits, breaching protective terms written into two “master service agreements” Samsung and Vintage signed in 2014 and 2017, said Tuesday’s complaint. The agreements, attached to the complaint but completely redacted, are “valid, binding and enforceable,” said Samsung. Vintage didn’t respond to questions Wednesday.

Samsung is supporting an e-cycling program with uBreakiFix tech repair stores to make electronics recycling more accessible to consumers. The brand’s 550 stores are accepting most everyday tech devices including cellphones, tablets, computers, printers, game consoles and wearables, uBreakiFix blogged. It will process the devices and route them to a Samsung-authorized recycling partner for either refurbishing or processing into raw commodities for future reuse, it said. The stores’ mission is to divert e-waste by making device repair more convenient and cost-effective than replacement, said President Justin Wetherill.

An e-waste incident reported by the Basel Action Network “appears to have been the result of human error” at a Goodwill location in Washington, D.C., where Dell displays were donated, emailed a Dell spokesperson Friday. BAN said four of six LCD monitors exported as e-waste to Guatemala were in “likely violation” of the country’s import laws and Dell’s corporate policy (see 2010070066). The other two monitors went to disposal companies in Maryland. “These six displays were incorrectly sorted and sent to another partner and never entered the Dell Reconnect program,” the Dell spokesperson said. “This Goodwill location has committed to immediate actions to ensure errors of this type do not occur again, and to use this as a training opportunity for all program participants. Dell will also support Goodwill Industries International to ensure participating Reconnect partners are aware of the processes in place.”