E-Waste

The Oregon E-Cycles Program collected and recycled more than 24 million pounds of computers, monitors and televisions in 2010 – a 27 percent jump over the program’s first year.  The amount translates to 6.3 pounds-per-capita and exceeded 2009’s total of 19 million pounds collected.

According to Kathy Kiwala, E-Cycles specialist with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, a variety of factors contributed to Oregon’s big jump, including the disposal ban which went into effect Jan. 1, 2010.

Read the press release

Newly elected Maine Governor Paul LePage wants to repeal Maine's electronic waste recycling program, among other things. LePage wants to abolish the Board of Environmental Protection, a board designed for environmental protection, and replace it with a full time administrative law judge system. This would effectively eliminate many of the state's environmental and air pollution protection laws, as well as the e-waste law, because the law judge system relies on Federal law.

Maine's E-waste law was enacted in 2004, and required television and computer monitor manufacturers to take responsibility for ensuring the recycling of their products at the end of life. Under Maine’s E-Waste Law, municipalities are responsible for providing collection opportunities to their residents and for contracting with an approved consolidation business to ensure environmentally sound management and recycling of their residents’ televisions and computer monitors.

Governor LePage argues that eliminating the state's extended producer responsibility law would save administrative overhead and increase Maine's appeal to electronics manufacturers and retailers. However, this EPR system creates jobs for collectors and recyclers of e-waste, reduces the amount of toxics released into Maine’s environment, saves precious landfill space, and helps to reclaim the waste as commodity materials that can be used to create new products.

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The Covered Devices Recycling Act signed Nov. 23 by then-Gov. Ed Rendell takes effect today. Consumers will be able to recycle the following items for free:  televisions and computer devices including include hard drives, monitors, keyboards, mice and printers. The disposal ban will  take effect in January 2013.

This e-waste law will also generate new green jobs, from haulers, recyclers, collectors to repair and resale markets. These jobs correlate to direct and indirect economic growth through payroll, taxes, and consumer spending.

According to Ned Eldridge, president of eLoop LLC, an e-waste recycler in Plum,"Recycling is going to be a growth industry that will create hundreds of jobs in Pennsylvania." He expects eLoop to create 60 to 70 jobs in the next five years.

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Since its inception, the E-Cycle Washington program has collected 78 million pounds of discarded televisions, computers and monitors. The second year of the program was even more successful than the first, with 39.5 million pounds collected and recycled compared to 38.5 million pounds in 2009. There are more than 230 collection sites statewide.

The E-waste law assigns responsibility to electronics manufacturers for implementing and financing an e-waste recycling program, including the collection, transportation, and recycling of TVs, monitors, laptops and desktop computers. Households, small businesses, schools & school districts, small governments, special purpose districts, and charities can recycle covered electronic products free of charge in this program. 

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Office Depot just launched a electronic waste recycling program in schools and classrooms. The Recycling Rules program provides free collection boxes for commonly used products inside schools, collecting products like empty toner cartridges, and small electronics such as batteries and mobile phones.

Schools can send full,  pre-addressed and postage paid boxes back to Office Depot; after processing, the company will send a gift card in an amount based on the value of the recyclables inside back to the classroom.

This new free program rewards teachers with a gift card to purchase the school supplies they need for their classrooms while highlighting the importance of recycling. 

View the press release

The Morning Call highlights the new E-waste law recently passed, making Pennsylvania the 24th state with a law. The law transfers the financial burden and responsibility of collecting, transporting and recycling electronics from consumers to companies that make and sell them.

Judy Lentz, a Pennsylvania citizen:
"It makes sense because a lot of people think why should I pay. I'll just throw it in the trash can. It makes sense for everyone, especially my two grandchildren."

Learn more about Pennsylvania's E-waste Law

With the start of the New Year, there is a disposal ban on covered electronics for the following states:

Learn more about your state's disposal ban and where to drop off your electronics: 

• Connecticut E-waste Law
• Connecticut Drop Off Locations for Residents
• Indiana E-waste Law
• Indiana Collection Sites by County (.pdf)
• New Jersey E-waste Law
• New Jersey Residential Recycling Information by County
• West Virginia E-waste Law

As of January 1 2011, televisions, computers and monitors will be banned from disposal from West Virginia landfills. This is part of Senate Bill 398, which was signed into law on March 20, 2010.  West Virginia is the 15th state to enact a statewide landfill ban or disposal prohibition that covers one or more electronic devices.

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Learn more about WV's Ewaste Law

E-Cycle Washington just released their collection volume through November. At almost 36 million pounds, the state is on target for matching 2009 numbers, of 38.5 million pounds. Television account for 63% of materials collected by weight, with monitors at 28% and computers around 10%.

This is the second year the program has been in place.

See the results

Wisconsin's E-waste Law, signed last year, seems to be showing positive results. The collection volumes for the initial half of the program year shows 9,567,000 pounds of e-waste was recycled during this period.  Among the devices covered by the law are computers, printers, video displays, computer peripherals, fax machines, DVD players, and cell phones.

According to Mark Brown, facility manager for the Brown County Household Hazardous Waste Facility, the plant has seen dramatic increases in the amount of electronics recycled, from up to 15,000 pounds per month before the new law took effect to up to 50,000 pounds per month since.

The law also prohibited electronics from being disposed of in landfills beginning in September, 2010.

Read the article.