E-waste piling up: Is it really getting recycled?
December 22, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Solutions, Special Report
The mountain of e-waste is reaching Everest proportions. And businesses trying to recycle face some tough obstacles.
E-waste is the accumulation of obsolete computers, printers, cell phones, and other electronic gear that the fast-moving tech sector is producing at ever growing rate.
The U.S. alone generated over three million tons of the stuff in 2007, according to the EPA (that’s the most recent estimate). Only 13.6% of it was recycled.
A few vendors of copiers, printers and PCs are at last starting to take some responsibility for the recycling of their products . But in too many cases, the electronic gizmos, along with their toxic chemicals (lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, just to name a few of the tastier ingredients), end up in land fills.
Even if your company wants to keep from adding to the problem, there are serious obstacles. While a number of start-ups have made a business of hauling off such outmoded equipment, there is a spotty record of dishonest dealing and secret dumping, along with mass exporting of e-waste for unhealthy and dangerous disassembly by child and convict-labor in Third World countries. And there are no government regulations for this booming trade.
One attempt to solve this problem is the e-Stewards Standard (for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment).
These standards, monitored by a nonprofit group, hold “participating e-recyclers to a set of high standards including a ban on export, land dumping, incineration, and use of prison labor for toxic components.” The group recommends that corporations and government bodies use only those recyclers who have complied with standard. The site offers a state-by-sate guide to certified recyclers.
Other alternatives: Goodwill Industries will recondition and resell donated e-equipment. Best Buy has a recycling program for electronic junk.
And a number of electronics manufacturers have a take-back program. They are listed here.
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Tags: environment, recycling
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:55 am
Kudos for the information about the e-Stewards program. I work in inbound sales at an electronics recycling facility that is an e-Steward and sadly enough not enough people know about the program. One of the parts of my job is to educate people about why you need to recycle and why you should, I still come across a lot of people on an almost daily basis that don’t care what happens to the equipment as long as it is gone and it was free or they got paid for it.
Most people do not realize that there is a significant cost to operate as a recycler and the commodities harvested from the equipment does not cover the cost especially for the recycling of leaded glass.
Some of the things to ask when you are considering a recycler are what are you doing with the equipment? Can I tour your facility? What do you do with the glass? What do you charge? Do you use landfills or export? Do you provide data security? Do you provide a certificate of recycling? With a certificate of recycling you have proof of what you have done on your end. It indemnifies you and makes the equipment the responsibility of the recycler. If a recycler is offering to pay you for your equipment and it is old, not working, or very used you need to find out what they are doing with it. Usually the companies offering to pay you for “end of life” equipment or taking it for free may not be doing the right things with it. However, if you replace your equipment often (every two to three years) then there might be resale value and the recycler can offer asset recovery to give you a rebate or credit.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:12 am
Goodwill charges too much for free old junk and Best Buy will not let you scavange parts (they want you to buy new). All this “recycling” has done is keep usable technology out of the hands of the poor and industrious (students, engineers) in order to force some people to buy new. Here’s news, the folks who are at the back door are not the ones who come in the front door (buyers).
December 27th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Some good points. We should try to reduce and reuse as much as possible, but when we do recycle, we need to make sure it is done locally and not sent to the third world.
http://www.selfdestructivebastards.com/2009/12/electronic-waste.html