ERI Hosts Japanese Ministry of the Environment Delegation
“ERI Japan is ramping up quickly in Japan and we are very proud of our work with ITOCHU – signaling a unique, unprecedented partnership that brings best sustainability and circularity practices from North America and Asia together as a unified front,” said Shegerian. “We were honored to host our distinguished guests from the Japanese Ministry of the Environment and look forward to all the collaborative and innovative work we will be doing in Japan for many years to come.”
Japanese Shegerian emphasized that ERI Japan will focus on a transparent, end-to-end approach to electronics recycling and resource recovery. The company intends to track materials throughout the recycling process, helping ensure that recoverable resources remain out of landfills and are instead returned to the circular economy for use in new products.
Building a Global Circular Economy
ERI currently operates eight locations across the United States, with its international footprint expanding through operations and partnerships in Japan, Vietnam and India. The company also plans to establish approximately a dozen additional international locations before the end of 2028.
The Japanese company’s global capabilities encompass a broad range of services, including secure data destruction, IT asset disposition, advanced shredding, electronics recycling, remarketing, refurbishment, logistics and regulatory compliance.
Japanese key component of ERI’s approach is its proprietary chain-of-custody management system, which provides visibility into IT assets throughout the recycling and disposition process. Combined with AI-powered image recognition and robotic sorting technologies, the system is designed to improve processing accuracy, operational efficiency and material recovery.
These Japanese capabilities support ERI’s broader objective of creating a more transparent and scalable circular-economy model for electronics. By combining secure asset management with advanced recycling technologies, the company helps organizations address both the environmental and data-security challenges associated with end-of-life technology.
Advancing ERI Japan
The partnership with ITOCHU represents an important step in ERI’s international expansion and its efforts to bring advanced electronics recycling capabilities to additional markets.
Through ERI Japan, the companies aim to establish a comprehensive platform for responsible electronics recycling and ITAD services, combining ERI’s technical expertise and recycling infrastructure with ITOCHU’s established business presence in Japan.
The Japanese initiative also reflects increasing attention to the recovery of valuable materials from electronic products. As demand for electronics continues to grow, recycling and resource recovery can play an important role in keeping materials in circulation and reducing waste.
ERI’s technology-driven approach is designed to support this transition by recovering materials from end-of-life electronics and preparing them for potential reuse in the manufacturing supply chain.
Supporting Sustainable Development
The Japanese collaboration between ERI and ITOCHU is aligned with the ITOCHU Group’s “Sampo-yoshi” corporate philosophy, which translates to “good for the seller, good for the buyer, and good for society.”
Under this philosophy, the companies are working to strengthen sustainability and circular-economy initiatives while taking into consideration the perspectives of stakeholders, including consumers, markets and society.
The partnership brings together ERI’s experience in electronics recycling, ITAD and data security with ITOCHU’s presence in Japan, creating a framework for expanding responsible electronics lifecycle management.
ERI Japan is scheduled to begin doing business later in 2026.
Technology at the Center of Circularity
The Japanese Ministry of the Environment delegation’s visit to ERI’s Indiana facility highlighted the role that technology can play in advancing electronics circularity.
From AI-driven robotics and automated material sorting to proprietary shredding and real-time asset tracking, ERI is applying technology across multiple stages of the electronics recycling process. These capabilities are intended to increase recovery rates, improve operational transparency and support secure handling of sensitive information.
The company’s in-house alkaline battery recycling capabilities further expand its ability to recover materials from a broad range of electronic products and components.
By combining these technologies with established environmental and data-security certifications, ERI is developing an integrated model for electronics lifecycle management that can be applied across markets.
Expanding Responsible Electronics Recycling Worldwide
With more than 2.5 billion pounds of electronic waste recycled in the United States since its founding, ERI has established a significant recycling and resource recovery operation.
Its international expansion into Japan and other markets reflects the company’s strategy of extending its circularity capabilities globally. Through its growing network of facilities and partners, ERI is working to provide organizations with secure, transparent and environmentally responsible solutions for managing end-of-life electronics.
As ERI Japan prepares to begin operations, the company expects its collaboration with ITOCHU to support new opportunities for electronics recycling, resource recovery and ITAD services in Japan.
The visit from Japan’s Ministry of the Environment represents another milestone in that international effort, providing an opportunity to demonstrate ERI’s technology and operating model while strengthening relationships focused on sustainable resource management.
About ERI
ERI is an international material resource recovery, ITAD, technology reuse and electronics recycling company. The company is certified at the highest levels by leading environmental and data-security oversight organizations to de-manufacture, recycle and refurbish electronic devices in an environmentally responsible manner.
ERI was the first company in its industry to achieve ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications for security and data protection. The company has the capacity to process more than one billion pounds of electronic waste annually across its eight certified U.S. locations and serves every ZIP code in the United States, with facilities and partners serving more than 50 countries.
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