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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.

Basel Action Network (BAN) Toxic Trade News, 6/10/09. "The Environmental Protection Agency filed a legal Complaint and Compliance Order late last week against EarthEcycle, the electronic waste handler for several charity e-waste collection events held in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in recent days. Basel Action Network (BAN) tracked 7 sea-going containers of the collected toxic e-waste to Hong Kong and South Africa after assurances were made by EarthEcycle owner, Mr. Jeffrey Nixon, that the wastes would be recycled locally. The EPA complaint cites 7 violation counts for illegal management and exportation of 'Cathode Ray Tubes' - the picture tube of old computer monitors and TVs. The counts include 'unauthorized export of hazardous waste' and 'failure to prepare a hazardous waste manifest.'" Article also reports on the decision of certain charities to continue their fundraising relationships with EarthECycle despite allegations of illegal exportation of waste.

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC) promotes green design and responsible recycling in the electronics industry. Its goal is to protect the health and well being of electronics users, workers, and the communities where electronics are produced and discarded by requiring consumer electronics manufacturers and brand owners to take full responsibility for the life cycle of their products, through effective public policy requirements or enforceable agreements. ETBC plans to accomplish this goal by establishing extended producer responsibility (EPR) as the policy tool to promote sustainable production and consumption of consumer electronics (all products with a circuit board). The Campaign will focus first on establishing EPR for personal computers.

Headlines abound with stories of branded technology being fished out of rivers and landfills in developing nations leaking toxic metals into the water supply. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates roughly 400,000 tons of e-waste goes to recyclers every year, and that up to 80 percent of the materials sorted for recycling end up in operations in China, India, Southeast Asia and West Africa where it is disassembled and burned or dumped. But it doesn't have to be that way, declares Mark Newton, the senior manager of environmental sustainability at Dell Computers, the computer manufacturing giant based in Round Rock, Texas.

This document reports on an LCA study of PCs, according to the terms of reference described in Technical Annex XI.E.4/96/0056 of the Commission's call for tenders and on pp 12-14 of Atlantic/IPU's tender for the project, which was distributed to the PC ad hoc working group on 21 January, 1997.

This is the first annual report that the Green Electronics Council plans to produce to estimate the life-cycle environmental benefits from the purchase or sale of EPEAT registered electronic products. EPEAT is a system for identifying environmentally preferable personal computers and monitors that is managed by the Green Electronics Council. The product registry and more information can be found at www.epeat.net. In EPEAT, participating manufacturers report to GEC the number of EPEAT registered products that they sell each year.

Millions of laptops, computers, and mobile phones are discarded in UAE each year. The most active involvement regarding proper e-waste disposal in the middle east region is found in UAE. Currently, the country is working on developing e-waste regulations and legislation for sound e-waste management. Find out more in this article.

shopgoodwill.com is the first Internet auction site created, owned and operated by a nonprofit organization. It was created and is operated by Goodwill of Orange County (Santa Ana, CA). Participating Goodwill's from across the country offer for auction on the site a wide array of art, antiques and collectibles as well as new and nearly new items pulled from their vast inventories of donated goods. From unique one-of-a-kind items to estate pieces, the depth of resources is enormous. Revenues from these auction sales fund Goodwill's education, training and job placement programs for people with disabilities and other barriers.

PEOPLE DEMAND good data, especially when it comes to matters of human health and the environment. They get frustrated when it isn't easily available or if they feel it's incomplete or not organized in a way that's useful. So, not surprisingly, Environmental Protection Agency Chief Information Officer Molly O'Neill is intrigued by the new crop of Web 2.0 technologies that could help better deliver information and establish forums for the resulting discussions. O'Neill spoke with GCN about a successful wiki-based pilot involving the Puget Sound Leadership Council in addition to the challenges agencies face handling large amounts of data.

Even though holiday sales were down at least 2% from 2007, millions of Americans awoke Christmas morning to new computers, TVs and iPhones. (I didn't, but thanks for the pens, Mom.) Many of those gifts were replacements or upgrades, which prompts the question, What should you do with your old cell phone and other electronic equipment?

How--and why--we should make sure our old cell phones, TVs and PCs get dismantled properly; Time magazine article by Bryan Walsh, 1/8/09. Includes a good series of photos of China's "e-waste village."