Taking care of e-waste
By Karina | March 19, 2008
Last week, the NYC Council reached an agreement with Mayor Bloomberg to pass electronic waste legislation — the first one will require manufacturers to finance a take-back system, and a second bill will establish enforceable collections standards. These two bills working together will create a robust system for recycling that doesn’t put the onus on the consumer or the city sanitation department.
From Council Speaker Christine Quinn:
Rather than allow that disagreement to delay implementation of this essential program, I am very pleased to report that we have recalled the original bill and reintroduced two new pieces of legislation. The first bill, Intro. 728, will cover all other elements of the e-waste plan, including requiring manufacturers to finance a take-back system that is convenient for all New Yorkers. The second bill, Intro. 729,will cover only the elements creating enforceable collections standards.
I’m pretty excited about this! This is a recycling scheme that really works. Europe has required take-back recycling of their manufacturers (many of whom are American companies) for several years - here’s an article referencing electronics take-back legislation in January 2003. And when I say American manufacturers, check out all the countries Dell lists recycling for - and the USA is not on that list, you have to go to this page for USA recycling. However, right now most take-back programs require you to mail your electronics (sometimes at your own expense) and that can be inconvenient and expensive for many people. The first bill will require manufacturers to develop collection locations around the city to make it really easy to take the electronics back for recycling, and then to actually recycle them. There are more specifics about the program here.
Other states have e-waste programs - like New Jersey, slated to start 2010. California enacted electronics recycling in 2003 that is funded by user-fees collected at the time of new electronics purchase. Maryland has had a manufacturer funded ecycling program since 2006. And Washington has a very robust manufacturer take-back program that is starting in 2009. But in many states, it’s a come-what-may situation where the recycling guidance directs you to local recycling facilities or to local household hazardous waste and ewaste collection days.
Now, as a girl who has been known to stop on the side of the road to pick up old computer monitors so I could be sure they made it to the e-waste collection day, that’s not the most effective way to make sure people are recycling. And this is going to be a really big deal in the next year or two - I don’t really know much about this because I don’t really have a TV (not strictly true - I have a very old tv that I got out of my stepmom’s basement. it serves, but I don’t get any reception) — but in 2009, television stations will be required to switch from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting… which means that in order to get television reception, everyone will have to purchase a digital capable TV and there will be lots of old analog TVs on the side of the road. There’s more information here. And you know what? I’m not convinced that the US is ready to handle all those waste TVs without sending them to landfills. The EPA page above references a few independent recycling organizations:
- Earth 911 Earth 911 has a zip-code based search engine that enables you to look for recycling options in your community for various products. Earth 911 has taken environmental hotlines, web sites and other information sources nationwide, and consolidated them into one network.
- My Green Electronics Provided by the Consumer Electronics Association, this site is a resource for consumers wishing to purchase green products and/or searching for local opportunities to recycle or donate used electronics.
- Sony and Waste Management Sony, an EPA Plug-In To eCycling Partner, has teamed up with Waste Management, Inc. to offer their customers the opportunity to recycle their used Sony electronics for free. Other brands of TVs can also be recycled at selected Waste Management locations for a fee. To find a drop-off location, call 877-439-2795 or go to www.sony.com/recycle.
- National Recycling Coalition With an easy to navigate hyperlinked map, this page provides links to state recycling resources. Many local communities have special collection/recycling days that are highlighted on their Web sites.
So what’s my tiny choice when it comes to e-waste? I still pick it up on the side of the road unless I’m sure it’ll make it to a recycler curb-side. And I do publish e-waste days at work so everyone knows about them. But I think there’s got to be a certain amount of activism too - take a minute to find out what your municipality recycles, and then call in and ask them how they expect to handle the increase in television waste with the analog-to-digital switch coming up so soon.
photo from flickr user iowa_spirit_walker via creative commons.
Does your local community recycle e-waste? Have you found yourself carrying home a curbed old monitor because you were sure there was a better way to discard it?
If anyone is looking for any stats, links or more information I’d be glad to provide it, as I’ve extensively researched the topic. Just add a comment and I can throw some figures out for ya. There are currently 14 states with e-waste legislation, but there are several others with proposed legislation.
One of the benefits of big box stores is that loads of them are jumping on the bandwagon and offer free or small-fee electronic drop offs in their stores. Others host collection events. The BIG thing to look for is a recycler that DOES NOT EXPORT the recycling to a third world nation for recycling. For those of you who are NYC-based, the Build It Green (http://www.bignyc.org/content/electronics-recycling-smash) in Astoria has partnered with the Lower East Side Ecology center to take e-waste and does not export it.
The ground-breaking part of the NYC bill is that it will be the first municipality to pass such legislation.
and special thanks michelle b/c without your tip this entry never would have happened!
It is great that so many options are developing (and being required) for end of life disposition of electronics. With regard to end of life issues, readers might want to consider using the EPEAT greener computer procurement tool to choose the products that replace their recycled computers. With that step, they can ensure that the manufacturer promises to take back and responsibly recycle their new product, as well as knowing that the product is superior to non-EPEAT models in terms of toxic content, energy efficiency and numerous other characteristics
EPEAT (www.epeat.net) is a stakeholder-developed environmental standard supported by US EPA that currently covers desktops, laptops and monitors and is expanding to address printers, TVs, servers and mobile devices (cell phones,PDAs) over the next year or two.
EPEAT addresses 23 mandatory and 28 optional environmental performance criteria in 8 categories, including energy efficiency (Energy Star mandatory), toxics reduction (RoHS mandatory), takeback and recycling (mandatory), greener materials choices (recycled, biobased) , ease of disassembly and recycling, life cycle extension, packaging and company performance. Products register at Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels in EPEAT, depending on how many optional criteria they meet. (Criteria overview at http://www.epeat.net/Criteria.aspx )
Dozens of manufacturers participate in EPEAT, with 500+ products registered. Visit www.epeat.net for many more details on registered products, participating manufacturers, the specific criteria and so forth.
Also, the BIGGEST FIRST STEP…work with what you’ve got. Rather than starting the cycle with recycling or purchasing, start it with assessing if you need a new device…review whether or not your system could be upgraded. if purchasing is necessary, the next step is looking at refurbished electronics, which many manufacturers sell and offer warranties for.
[…] Tiny Choices talks about something we all have to deal with at some point…E-Waste. […]
On April 19, several communities will be hosting free e-waste dropoff sites through partners of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. My local one will be a lot closer than my county’s e-waste dropoff site, so I submitted the information to my local school district (they e-mail weekly event listings to schools and opt-in subscribers) and printed a few flyers that I left with few local stores’ electronics departments (with permission!) and posted on community bulletin boards at my local library branches and coffee shops.
A list of all participating locations is online at:
http://www.1800gotjunk.com/earthday/
It’s truly sickening how much e-waste is out there, and I found that one great way to combat this problem is look for help through a greener PC company called Userful. What’s great about them is they actually re-use a single existing PC to power up to 10 workstations at once saving energy and reducing e-waste. I’m incredibly satisfied with what they offer, and I think it’s something everybody should check out to help combat this problem of e-waste – http://www.userful.com