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Prior to the startup of this program, the quality of electronic waste recycling in this state, and across the nation has been questionable at best. While there are a number of reputable firms that handle and recycle electronic components properly, there are other, well-documented cases of companies that collect the items for shipment to Third World countries, where they are crudely picked apart, endangering the health of workers, communities and the environment. The state's electronic waste recycling program, similar to ones developed in 16 other states, is another classic example of the federal government shirking its duties. Rather than a nationwide electronic waste recycling program with uniform rules and regulations, the states are left to fend for themselves. How many times have we seen this scenario play out during the past eight years?

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.

PR: GreenCitizen, Inc., a green recycling company for end-of-life computers and electronics, today announced its expansion from Silicon Valley and San Francisco to Burlingame with the grand opening of its third educational and drop-off center in the San Francisco Bay area on December 22, 2008. (

ODATE, JP -- Many small pieces can add up to a big whole, and one small city in the north of Japan is finding there's money in the process as well. Odate, a city of about 80,000 people in Akita Prefecture, on the northern end of Honshu, the big island of Japan, has begun diverting small electronics from landfills and using the town's mining history to salvage precious metals from the waste. By putting collection bins outside supermarkets and community centers, the city gathering about 17 tons of e-waste in 11 months, from April 2007 to February 2008, according to a report from Harufumi Mori in Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper. The gadgets collected range from broken appliances to hair dryers to cell phones -- all too small to fall under the scope of recycling laws in Japan. Although they're small, they're far from worthless, the city is finding. After looking through just over one-third of the waste, Mori reports that the city might find as much as half a kilogram of tantalum, one kilogram of gold, and as much as 4 kilograms of silver and palladium. All from less than one year of collections in one city among a gadget-crazy country with over 127 million residents. As a former mining town, Odate is well equipped to harvest precious metals from e-waste.

Indiana law signed 5/13/09. Manufacturers of video display devices, such as TVs, computer monitors and laptops, must recycle 60 percent by weight of their sales of those products. They are required to register with the state by April 2010 and must include a plan describing how they will meet their recycling targets. They can count the recycling of other electronics, such as printers, keyboards and VCRs, toward their recycling goals. Manufacturers must report their progress at the end of each program year for state review. In the third year, the state will impose penalties for noncompliance.

"EPR2 Baseline Report: Recycling of Selected Electronic Products in the United States"; ordering information; "Documents the results of the first large-scale survey and analysis of end-of-life electronic product recycling and reuse in the United States. The research, conducted by Stanford Resources, Inc., of San Jose, California, used data from 123 firms, including recyclers, third-party organizations that accept equipment for refurbishment and subsequent resale or donation, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and large corporate users of electronic equipment."

The Ewaste Foundation's aim is to decrease the e-waste problem and to neutralize the fact that your used electronics, when given a second life in developing countries. Based in the Netherlands.