Group items tagged

Answering questions about both e-waste disposal and recycling involves a host of challenges. For example, little information is available to allow a complete assessment of how e-waste ultimately managed. General estimates have been made about the management of cathode ray tubes (CRTs, the only devices where disposal is federally regulated), but little reliable information is available regarding other categories of e-waste. Further, little information is available regarding the total amount of functioning electronics exported to developing countries for legitimate reuse. What is known is that e-waste recycling involves complex processes and it is more costly to recycle e-waste in the United States, where there is a limited recycling infrastructure. It also is known that most consumer electronics manufacturers (who provide the market for material recovery from recycled electronics) have moved overseas.

Hewlett Packard (HP), in collaboration with the Global Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF), and the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa), has launched a groundbreaking initiative to develop sustainable recycling processes to tackle the problem of e-waste in Africa. For the past two years, the initiative has been overseeing a pilot program facility in South Africa and conducting e-waste management assessment studies in both Kenya and Morocco; the goal of the assessments is ultimately to properly determine each country's ability to deal with the e-waste there, whether it arose from electronics that were purchased new within the country and are now reaching their end of life, or from electronics that were shipped illegally from other countries. The project has been examining efforts by both African governments and organizations to safely handle e-waste. The project has been compiling extensive information, such as the policy and legal framework in each country, standard settings for e-waste treatment, organizations and programs already in place to safely process e-waste, and the actual amounts of e-waste present. MediaGlobal article by Shefali Lall, 7/20/09.

A new program gives hotels an option for recycling their aging television sets and computer monitors. LG Electronics USA Inc. and Waste Management Inc. are partnering to offer the service.

Research project that proposed to conduct a comprehensive study of the current CRT waste situation in the state of Florida (volume of CRT discarded, existing facilities, practices) as well as make projections on trends in future CRT waste streams. The goal of this research to answer questions about trends in volume of discarded CRTs in the future, current CRT waste management practices and trends, and capacity for handling increase in CRT disposal. Page includes links to the project reports, as well as a paper presented at the February 2010 SWANA Thinking Outside of the Blue Box Conference.

India's road map for managing electronic waste in the country.

SCORE is an annual report in Minnesota that gives data on Recycling and waste management for that year

Public Act 95-0959 became the law of the State of Illinois in September 2008. The law establishes a statewide system for recycling and/or reusing computers, monitors, televisions, and printers discarded from residences by requiring electronic manufacturers and retailers to participate in the management of discarded and unwanted electronic products.

Design for environment cleaner production, extended producer responsibility, standards and labeling, product stewardship, recycling and remanufacturing are some of the practices adopted by various countries around the world to deal with the e-waste stream. An overview of these practices is presented and the manner in which they contribute to the sustainable management of e-waste is discussed.

Attero Recycling was born in February 2008. Even before setting up the plant and starting operations, they managed to raise $6.3 million from VC firms NEA-IndoUS Venture and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) September 4, 2009 -- Capstone Wireless, LLC is pleased to announce that the non-profit environmental watchdog Basel Action Network (BAN) has recognized Capstone Wireless as an e-Steward™ electronics recycler, a designation awarded to North American electronics recyclers and asset managers who have been qualified as upholding the highest standard of environmental and social responsibility.

Canon Middle EastCanon Middle EastCanon Middle East CME Region-wide | Consumer Goods News | Profile | Officers , the world-leading innovator and provider of imaging and information technology solutions, today announced its latest environmental initiative in the Middle East with the signing of a partnership agreement with EnviroServe, the leading environmental waste managers.

"It seems like every time you turn around a new and better smartphone or HDTV set goes on sale. That's great for consumers who are eager to upgrade to the latest gadgets but it's maybe not so good for the environment. The bad news is 60% of Americans are not recycling their old gadgets. The good news is that resellers and manufacturers are rising to the occasion and implementing their own recycling services. In this Gadget Census report we look at how consumers across the country are being green with gadgets and what is being done to help manage the growing number of devices that are turning into e-waste every day. "

Officials say Howard A. Schmidt, a longtime computer security executive who worked in the Bush administration and has extensive ties to the corporate world, has been chosen to take on the task of organizing and managing the nation's increasingly vulnerable digital networks.

Today, more than 40 percent of all homes in the United States contain at least one video game console. Recognizing that all that gaming could add up to serious demand for electricity, NRDC and Ecos Consulting performed the first ever comprehensive study on the energy use of video game consoles and found that they consumed an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours per year -- roughly equal to the annual electricity use of the city of San Diego. Through the incorporation of more user-friendly power management features, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation's electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO2 each year. In this November 2008 issue paper, NRDC provides recommendations for users, video game console manufacturers, component suppliers and the software companies that design games for improving the efficiency of video game consoles already in homes as well as future generations of machines yet to hit the shelves.

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.

South Korea's Samsung Electronics has said it will invest $4.3B (£2.6B) as part of an initiative to develop new energy-efficient products and halve carbon emissions from its factories by 2013. The consumer electronics giant today unveiled its Eco-Management 2013 plan, under which it will spend $2.5B on improving the energy efficiency of its products -- including TVs, refrigerators and air conditioning systems -- with a goal of delivering the highest levels of efficiency in the consumer electronics industry. Under the plan, standby power consumption on many products will also be halved from 1W to just half a watt, while the company has said it will work to identify new recyclable and organic materials that could be used in the manufacture of consumer products such as laptops and mobile phones. Meanwhile, $1.8B will be invested in halving greenhouse gas emissions from Samsung manufacturing plants. Article by Yvonne Chan, Greener Computing, 7/20/09.

This portion of the Federal Facilities Environmental Stewardship & Compliance Assistance Center (FedCenter) web site provides resources related to the electronics stewardship program area. This program area addresses the life-cycle management of electronics from procurement to disposal. Links, documents, and case studies are provided for the Federal Electronics Challenge (FEC), the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT), and Energy Star. Sections include: Regulations, Guidance, and Policy; Supporting Information and Tools; Lessons Learned; Training, Presentations, and Briefings; and Conferences and Events.

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.