A former organiser of the UK’s largest recycling and waste management show, RWM, is bringing its free-to-attend exhibition model to America’s fastest-growing waste problem. Fortem International, the UK/US exhibition organiser headquartered in New Jersey, has told EN, 3 November, that it will launch of The Electronic Waste & Recycling Expo, a free-to-attend expo and conference for the companies that collect, recycle and recover value from electronics. The show will run twice a year: in Chicago each February, and in Dallas each September, starting in 2028.
America is throwing away more electronics than ever and every phone, laptop, server and electric-car battery eventually has to be collected, stripped down and turned back into raw material. Electronic Waste & Recycling Expo is targeting bringing together the companies that do that work, from recyclers and equipment makers to the councils and haulers who collect it.
The timing is driven by the AI boom, Fortem says. Technology companies are spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on new data centres, and the computers inside them are replaced regularly. That is creating a wave of used equipment that needs to be wiped, resold or recycled, and the firms that handle it are growing fast. New state laws are also making manufacturers responsible for taking back their own products, and new federal rules are keeping recycled battery material in the United States.
The two cities put the show where the material is. Texas leads the country in new data-centre construction, with more than $22bn of projects started this year, and Dallas is the business hub for the Southwest. Chicago sits at the centre of the Midwest manufacturing belt and within a day’s drive of the Ohio and Wisconsin data-centre corridor, and gives the industry a winter meeting point in the north.
Running twice a year means exhibitors can reach both halves of the country without waiting 12 months between shows.
James Berryman, CEO of Fortem International, said: “We ran RWM in the UK, the biggest show in its market, so we know this sector: the recyclers, the equipment makers, the councils and haulers, and what they actually want from a trade show. We stepped away from waste to build our US business, and we have been watching the electronics side of the industry change faster than anything we saw then. The AI boom has turned used servers and batteries into a market in its own right, and the laws around who pays for recycling are rewriting the rules for manufacturers. That is the gap we know how to fill, and it is why we are stepping back in.”
The show floor will have dedicated areas for electronics and data-centre recycling, the robotics and AI systems now used to sort waste, and battery recycling, with a conference programme for manufacturers and brand owners on their new take-back obligations. Fortem says it expects 500+ exhibitors and 5,000+ visitors at each edition.
Fortem International is headquartered in New Jersey, with offices in Bristol, London, Truro and Abu Dhabi. The company produces exhibitions across emergency response and resilience, defence manufacturing, hospitality technology, customer experience and chemical risk, and previously organised RWM, the UK’s leading recycling and waste management exhibition.
