Drew Herpich

Get right-sized warehouse automation. Unlock the potential of your warehouse order fulfillment operations. Learn how SKU Batch Factor is calculated and how it influences automation size and Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) design to save you from over- or under- buying what you need.   Download this white paper to discover:   What SKU Batch Factor is and its impact on efficiency and ROI How to calculate the optimal batch factor for your ASRS solution design Tips to avoid overspending on automation   Download the White Paper Here  

written by Deborah Dull, on site at GreenBiz 2026   I spent today in a room full of people who think about waste for a living. And the word that kept coming up had nothing to do with recycling. It was sovereignty. Here is the situation. The United States imports 95% of its critical mineral supply. Lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements, the stuff inside every battery, every semiconductor, every electric motor. We do not make it, we do not mine much of it, and we do not control the supply chain that delivers it. That is not an energy policy problem. That is a national security problem. Now here is the part that should make you put down your coffee. A ton of smartphones contains dramatically more gold than a ton of mined ore. We are talking about concentrations that make urban mining look like a gold rush compared to digging in the ground. And yet the recovery rate for those materials, once a phone leaves its first owner, drops to around 13%. We are losing roughly 80% of the value sitting in devices right now, in drawers, in closets, in landfills. E-waste is also the fastest growing waste stream…