Comcast partners with echo environmental on first-of-its-kind recycling solution for coaxial cables

Comcast Cable has announced a partnership with Echo Environmental Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Envela Corporation, to utilize a new recycling solution for its customers’ end-of-life coaxial cables.

The innovative technology developed by Echo Environmental breaks wires down into raw, new materials that can be reintroduced and resold, helping to significantly reduce landfill waste.

“Comcast works to continually recycle or divert cable equipment waste, and we have been in constant search for new technologies to maximize the recyclability and reusability of coax cable materials at end-of-life,” says Tom Vogel, Senior Vice President of Supply Chain & Logistics for Comcast Cable. “Echo Environmental’s technology brings coax waste into the circular economy, converting coax into new materials that can be reintegrated into another product lifecycle.”
“We are excited to collaborate with our customers, such as Comcast, to find new ways to promote sustainability through innovative technology—a core tenet of Echo’s business philosophy. And we love that such solutions also help customers repurpose end-of-life materials,” said Tommy McGuire, President of Echo Environmental.

Coaxial cables include multi-layered cords with a steel inner conductor, insulating layer, and conductive shielding. These cables can be made of 27 different polymers that require separation for use in new products. Traditional recycling attempts have been successful recovering the metals contained in the wires, but not the insulation and jacketing, which can end up in landfills. In 2021, Echo Environmental created a new solution that creates high-polymer fractions from the insulation and jacketing without hazardous chemicals or incineration, allowing these substances to be reintroduced directly into supply chains as raw materials.

Echo Environmental’s first-of-its-kind plant has the capacity to recycle one million pounds of wire waste per month and will recycle approximately 70% of Comcast’s cable and coax waste each year.

“It is incredibly gratifying to develop sustainable solutions for underserved market products,” says Brian Hays, Echo Environmental Project Developer. “Our unique process combines traditional recycling systems with methods from other industries, resulting in the ability to extract target polymers cleanly. This outside-the-box thinking not only sets us apart in our industry, but also enables us to deliver meaningful, real-world solutions for our clients and our environment.” BCS Bureau