Resource Recycling Podcast

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.The hallway is where the e-scrap deals get done. Resource Live sits down with the people running the 2026 E-Scrap Conference in New Orleans and asks why this is still the show the industry notices if you skip.Maite Quinn, president of Resource Recycling and conference lead for E-Scrap, Chris York, vice president of business development at Mint Innovation, and Adam Shine, president of Sunnking Sustainable Solutions, walk through what changed and what did not. CRTs used to own the agenda. The lifespan problem is back, this time in solar. Phones got thinner and drop-proof, then the batteries got glued down. A few manufacturers are shifting: heat-release adhesive, take-apart guides, recycled content in the next product. Most are still designing for the buyer, not the dock.They also make the case for the room. You cannot cover every state. The person you need in Texas or Illinois is usually someone you met at this show. York calls it the FOMO test: if you are not there, people ask whether you are still in business. Shine says he sees more of his customers and competitors here than at any other event, across refurb, resale, ITAD, and recycling. ReMA is the other big room. Its floor still leans metals. E-Scrap is the one built for electronics.New Orleans is not a backdrop. First-timers get a secondå-line parade from the Hyatt Regency to Pat O’Brien’s on Bourbon Street. Breakfast on Wednesday is a gong show, with Bloody Marys, after pickleball that runs until 1 a.m. Cafe Du Monde, Court of Two Sisters, Herbsaint, and Frenchmen Street all get a vote. Eat off Bourbon. Play on Bourbon.Awards get a short tease, with a full episode still to come. The Women’s RISE Award, the Billy Johnson Award, and a circularity award are on the Wednesday breakfast. Shine talks about Johnson as the lobbyist who knew Capitol Hill and the call from Robin Wiener the night before the 2024 show. Kiser is moderating a critical-minerals session Tuesday, October 27, at 2 p.m. with Chris York, Cody Oliver, and Ben Kincaid.E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference runs October 26–28, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. Book at https://www.e-scrapconference.com/If this is the show you use to see the whole floor in three days, like the video, leave a comment with the session you are not missing, subscribe to the Resource Recycling Podcast, and turn on notifications. The awards episode is next.Support Resource RecyclingSubscribe → https://resource-recycling.com/subscribe/E-Scrap 2026 → https://www.e-scrapconference.com/Follow Resource Recycling:• YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@ResourceRecyclingPodcast• X → https://x.com/rrecycling• LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/resource-recycling-inc-• Website → https://resource-recycling.com/

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.When a global PC maker takes devices back, what share actually gets a second life, and who decides? Stefan Larsen, Lenovo’s global sustainability services leader, is the manufacturer voice on this episode of the Resource Recycling Podcast. He runs customer-facing environmental services from Copenhagen: take-back, a certified second life, and advice before the purchase order is signed.Circularity at Lenovo has moved from a report line to a services business. Larsen says the company ships a unit almost every seven seconds, and customers now show up with their own sustainability targets. Asset recovery started 15 to 16 years ago as a residual-value play. Six or seven years ago the driver was data security. In the last four or five years, sustainability joined finance and security as the reason buyers hand equipment back.The process he describes is designed to look the same worldwide: scope the take-back, design the program, and let the customer track orders with checkpoints they can report. Lenovo Certified Refurbished is the newer brick. One path certifies and upgrades machines already on the floor so they last one to three more years. Support Resource RecyclingSubscribe free → https://resource-recycling.com/subscribe/E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference → https://www.e-scrapconference.com/Resource Recycling → https://resource-recycling.com/Follow Resource Recycling:• YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@ResourceRecyclingPodcast• X → https://x.com/rrecycling• LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/resource-recycling-inc-• Website → https://resource-recycling.com/

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.When something breaks, who decides what happens next — you, or the company that built it? On this episode of the Resource Recycling Podcast, Uriah Kiser talks with Matt Zieminski, Vice President of Partnerships at iFixit, about why that question now sits at the center of circular electronics, e-scrap, and right-to-repair policy.Zieminski also serves on the board of the Repair Association, sits on the eScrap Steering Committee, and co-chairs the Service Parts and Warranty Committee for the Reverse Logistics Association. He has testified before the U.S. Copyright Office and multiple state legislatures, and co-presented with iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens at Teardown 2025 on “Repair is Hardware: Building a Future We Can Fix.” His argument is blunt: the owner, not the manufacturer, should decide whether to repair, refurbish, or replace.That choice is constrained because chips and software now sit inside almost everything — phones, tractors, vacuums, even a $500 AI-enabled Dyson toothbrush. Manufacturers treat post-sale control as proprietary rights. Zieminski calls it a marketing strategy. Under current law, he says, they do not get to own the product after the sale. The practical result is thinner independent repair networks, long drives to authorized service, and devices held together with glue instead of screws.Repairability, in his framing, is three things at once: can you open it, do you have documentation that works offline as well as on YouTube, and can you buy a replacement part that actually lasts? Independent repair generally does not void a manufacturer’s warranty under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Extended plans such as AppleCare are a separate contract.Zieminski is slated to be at E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference, October 26–28 in New Orleans. Kyle Wiens is up for Resource Recycling’s Electronic Circular Innovation Award.If this conversation is useful, like the video, leave a comment with the repair or battery-access problem you see on the floor, subscribe to the Resource Recycling Podcast, and turn on notifications for the next episode.Read more at Resource RecyclingE-Scrap News and industry coverage → https://resource-recycling.com/Subscribe for free → https://resource-recycling.com/subscribe/E-Scrap: The Longevity Conference → https://e-scrapconference.com/iFixit → https://www.ifixit.com/The Repair Association → https://www.repair.org/Teardown 2025: Repair is Hardware → https://crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2025/long-talk/repair-is-hardware-building-a-future-we-can-fixFollow Resource Recycling:• YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@ResourceRecyclingPodcast• X → https://x.com/rrecycling• LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/resource-recycling-inc-• Website → https://resource-recycling.com/

Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note.What if the biggest barrier to a circular economy isn’t technology or funding, but the way we lead and collaborate with each other?In the first episode of the Resource Recycling Podcast, host Uriah Kiser talks with Cassie Gruber, a 20-plus-year circular economy strategist and Founder & CEO of Circular Bound and CALM Impact. Cassie started in a Buffalo e-waste shop inside an old Wonder Bread building, spent eight years leading Scope 3 and circular strategy at Jabil, and now builds tools to help leaders shift from linear habits to circular ones.Cassie argues that the industry already has technical solutions for recovery and reuse. Progress stalls because organizations stay siloed — and because more than 90% of how we behave is driven by the subconscious. Her answer is human-centered systems change: Circular Bound as the movement, and Surround as a free behavioral intelligence platform built around an eight-habit framework, human KPIs, and daily practice.In this episode:• Cassie’s start recovering components, leaching lead from CRT monitors, and extracting gold from inkjet cartridges• Why collaboration keeps stalling even when the technology exists• How Circular Bound and Surround.ai are built to make resiliency and emotional intelligence accessible• Where the industry still needs better collaboration: brands and ITADs, metals, plastics, chips, and data centers• What’s coming at the 2026 E-Scrap Conference in New Orleans, October 26–28, including the Sunday state-of-the-industry session and paradeCassie serves on the E-Scrap Conference steering committee and will speak at the 2026 event. She is also a co-author of The World’s Thought Leaders; her chapter is “Little But Fierce.”GuestCassie Gruber, Founder & CEO, Circular Bound and CALM Impacthttps://www.circularbound.comhttps://www.calmimpact.comhttps://surround.aihttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cassiemgruberResourcesE-Scrap Conference 2026 (New Orleans, Oct. 26–28): https://escrapconference.comThe World’s Thought Leaders: https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Thought-Leaders-Motivated-Behind/dp/1763819833Resource Recycling: https://resource-recycling.comThe Resource Recycling Podcast is produced by Northern Virginia Local LLC for Resource Recycling. New episodes explore circular electronics, recycling systems, and the people building them.