news release

Boston, May, 1997: Lacerta Group, Inc. announced it has entered into a cooperative effort with DuPont Films to recover and recycle magnetic media from computer cartridges and diskettes, audio tape, and video tape cassettes and other magnetic media products.

For the past three years, Lacerta Group and DuPont independently have been developing technology to recover the polyethylene terephthalate (PET), chromium dioxide and iron oxide used in various tape applications. The companies jointly will test a proprietary new chemical process that separates magnetic coatings from the polyester base film, which is the first step in recovering the PET and oxides.

According to industry sources, the volume of data that is being stored worldwide has steadily increased over the last decade. Finding disposal methods for magnetic media waste that protect the environment and are cost effective have been concerns for a long time.

"More than 2 billion VHS videotapes were sold worldwide in 1996," said W. Duke Everhart, technology development manager for DuPont Films’ Polyester Films Recycle Business. "That much tape would extend from Earth to the sun, and back, twice."

The effort between Lacerta and DuPont will offer opportunities for both companies to develop and commercialize alternative recovery and recycling processes. The companies are contracting with a recycling equipment company to set up a pilot facility in the Richmond, Va. area to determine market opportunity and cost. Startup is scheduled for third quarter 1997, and the facility will process approximately 500,000 pounds of magnetic media. This will help identify what is needed in a commercial operation. The companies then will assess the technological and economic feasibility of scaling up to commercial recovery operations.

The cooperative effort initially will focus on melt recovery of a cross-section of PET products from selected coaters. Material that is not suitable for melt recovery applications will be qualified as feedstock for DuPont’s proprietary polyester regeneration technology. Lacerta has developed a number of alternative methods of disposal for obsolete media storage products. In less than four years of operation, the company has safely removed millions of pounds from that industry’s waste stream through its specialized recycling and de-manufacturing operations.

"We are eliminating materials - in an environmentally sound way- that would otherwise go to landfill," said Ali Lotfi, principal of Lacerta. "Our intent is to build infrastructure to recover this material and offer a complete solution to the magnetic media industry. There is never a question of potential hazardous waste going to landfill with our processes, and we are able to positively impact the environment by removing millions of pounds per year of materials from the waste stream." Environmental groups estimate that less than 1 percent of the videotapes sold in the U.S. are recycled, with most magnetic media waste going to landfill.

Ali Lotfi and his brother Mory founded Lacerta in 1993 to address the growing need within the magnetic media industry to recycle its own waste. "Currently, there is no other company in the market which offers such a recycling program. Due to environmental regulations, public and governmental pressures, the need for such a service became imperative," says principal Ali Lotfi, founder of the company.

"We de-manufacture through better use of technology and innovation," says Lotfi. "We are currently recycling more than 5 million data cartridges per year. Additionally, we recycle CDs, 9-track computer tape, audio and video cassettes, bulk packaging material, and other products."

Lacerta’s processing is done in a secure, security protected environment. Specific security features of Lacerta’s facility include on-site Security Guards, Sonitron sound and motion detectors as well as closed-circuit cameras inside and outside the building, electric eyes within facility corridors, metal detectors and hand-scanners at facility entrance/exit locations, alarmed doors and secure, supervised dumpster areas.

Ali and his brother, both mechanical engineers, have experience in research and development, manufacturing of magnetic media, recycling and processing of plastic components and environmental and waste management issues. Their combined expertise and experience allows them to provide the industry with a comprehensive solution to address environmental concerns.

Lacerta currently de-manufactures finished products (rejects, overproduction, recalls, obsolete media formats or damaged products such as video cassettes, audio cassettes, CDs, 9-track tapes, data cartridges, computer tapes and diskettes), recovers the components for possible re-use, or grinds up the components for re-use in different applications. Materials currently being recovered include polycarbonate (PC), polystyrene (PS), polyester (PET), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and ABS. The company also develops and produces blister-pack and thermoformed packaging materials, provides de-gaussing and data destruction services and sells a data recovery cracker for data retrieval from damaged 3480/3490 type data cartridges.

For more information on Lacerta Group, Inc., to request a quote on recycling services, or to receive a corporate brochure, please call Lacerta at (617) 442-3111, or email taperecycle@lacerta.com.

http://www.dupont.com/corp/products/dupontmag/97/recycle.html

Copyright© Lacerta Group, Inc. 1998