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In the new year, recycling your computer or TV will be free. A new program coming to Washington and Oregon will try to keep toxic chemicals out of the environment.">

With electronic items high on Christmas shopping lists, a new report is calling on the government to ensure that manufacturers collect and recycle unwanted computers and mobile phones to protect environmental and human health. This is the motherboard of all problems. Federal and state governments must act to stop the dumping of millions of electronic items in landfill each year," says Jeff Angel, director of the Total Environment Centre (TEC), an independent Australian green organisation.

It's good for you and for the environment. A team of "Total Reclaim" soldiers glean what they can from old electronics, taking what's salvageable and safely processing the toxic materials within. "In particular, lead. Lead is found in the glass in televisions and monitors and it's also found in circuit boards in the solder," said Craig Lorch, Total Reclaim.

If you got a brand new TV this holiday season, you might wonder what to do with your old one. Putting old electronics out with the trash can be bad for the environment, says Enterprise Sanitation owner Mark Deprospero. The batteries and tubing in the equipment can contaminate the ground, he says.

Electronic Recyclers blog

With Christmas just days away and the end of the year looming, many individuals and organizations are thinking about "green" New Year's resolutions and the best ways of recycling obsolete computers and other hardware. TechSoup Global's GreenTech initiative is here just in the nick of time with its "Top 10" list of tips to make more environmentally conscious choices in technology product recycling, and with "green" IT practices you can implement year-round.">http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032091/device/rss/rss.xml

The program is operated by the Washington Materials Management and Financing Authority, a quasi-governmental agency created by the legislation to work with the 200 or so manufacturers that sell computers and televisions in Washington state. In addition, the state Department of Ecology has certified four electronic waste processing firms - two in this state, one in Oregon and one in California - to disassemble the electronic equipment into separate materials for reuse or safe disposal, including glass, plastic, metal and toxic chemicals. The program is designed in part to stem the flow of electronic waste to Third World countries, where it is often dismantled crudely, threatening the environment, public health and the health of workers.

A new study analyzing the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader's impact on the environment suggests that, on average, the carbon emitted over the life of the device is offset after the first year of use.

Collective concern from businesses, municipalities, environmentalists and manufacturers over the hazards of e-waste has led to a search for ways to reduce its environmental impact. With a greater need for programs that handle collection and disposal of used electronics products in a way that is safest for the environment, product stewardship is emerging as a viable and cost-efficient strategy for doing so, placing the responsibility for a product's proper disposal on the shoulders of the company that makes or sells the product, or even upon the purchaser. The concept can be applied to a range of products, from paints and prescription medication to batteries and computers. Written by Carl Smith, CEO of the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, 7/22/09.

Waste & Recycling News, 5/28/09. Texas Gov. Rick Perry will have on his desk a bill requiring television manufacturers to provide Texas residents with free and convenient recycling for their old units. Proponents of the bill say it will help keep the 4 to 8 pounds of lead in cathode-ray tube televisions and the mercury in flat-screen TVs out of the environment. Televisions also contain brominated fire retardants and other hazardous chemicals.

Book edited by Ruediger Kuehr and Eric Williams; "Collecting perspectives from manufacturers, recyclers, environmental scientists and policy analysts, the volume presents a set of analyses on issues important for understanding and planning response to the environmental challenges posed by computers."; this page includes table of contents and link to ordering information

Formerly the International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment. View the conference program and see guidelines for their student paper competition.

Proceedings for the Institution of Civil Engineers, Municipal Engineer 162, June 2009, Issue ME2, pages 79-85. Written by J. Ye, S. Kayaga, & I. Smout. This paper provides a situational analysis and discusses the basic elements of the existing legislative framework for e-waste management in China. The paper concludes with an analysis of opportunities and challenges that exist in improving the enabling/regulatory environment for a hazardous but valuable commodity in a fast-growing economy.

Beijing Review article by Ding Wenlei, 7/9/09. "In the eight years after Guiyu became a collection point for electronic waste, Greenpeace China and other green organizations have not stopped urging major waste exporters to cease shipping their detritus to China. At the same time, they have been lobbying the Chinese Government to crack down more effectively on illegal electronic waste recycling. China finally has its own regulation on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)-the Regulation on the Administration of the Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products. Announced on February 25, the regulation will hold producers liable for the costs of managing their products at the end of their lifecycles as of January 1, 2011. According to the regulation, China will license large qualified recycling plants and develop a recycling economy to better safeguard the environment and human health. Yet, for environmental organizations, the Chinese Government and licensed recycling plants, it remains an uphill battle to smash the business chain of the illegal recycling of electronic waste."

UK: The Environment Agency is to lead a new international crime group as part of Interpol to help tackle illegal dumping of electrical waste on developing countries. The Interpol Global Crime Group is a worldwide intelligence-led operation which includes environmental crime investigators in the United States and Europe such as the US Environmental Protection Agency. The group will investigate links between organised criminal networks and the "waste tourists" travelling to countries like Britain to arrange the export of waste to developing countries.

Sydney, AUSTRALIA - 5 November 2009 - The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) welcomes the decision announced by Australia's Environment Ministers through Environmental Protection Heritage Council (EPHC) in Perth today for the creation of a national legislative framework to address eWaste in Australia.

Brian Williams makes the right call to save the environment. Recycle electronics

IT companies bring technological advancement at a great pace. With the growing technology, various issues like global warming, carbon emissions etc are affecting the environment and cause serious harm to human health. In order to implement energy efficient technology, green computing comes into picture. Know how IT Companies can contribute towards the green computing movement.

When the electronic products reach the end of the lifecycle, it often happens that businesses end up storing their IT assets in the closet to avoid the risk of getting their data breached. Or at other times, they just dispose them without giving a second thought. But this is not the right way of treating your e-waste. Because gathering dust over your used electronics will depreciate its substantial value and on the other hand improper disposition will add to hazardous impact on the environment - you definitely don't want both to happen. So, what should you do next? To help your business minimize risk and maximise ROI on retired IT assets, Veracity World has listed out some holistic solutions for IT asset management. Evaluate these options and get the best out of each obsolete or used electronic product.