Group items tagged

"E-Waste Recycling Can Be Done At Home - Help Your Neighbors Learn About Landfill Waste"

"ReCellular Spares Landfills From Over 1.6 Million Pounds of e-Wasted Cell Phones"

"Recycling vs. landfills"

"Ban on electronics in landfills an environmental disaster?"

"Recycling for Charities Needs Your Help to Keep 75 Tons of E-Waste Out of Landfills"

"Companies doing more to keep items out of landfills"

"Did you know that you can actually recycle your old or used cell phones ? If you're like most people, you probably have an old cell phone or two hidden in a drawer somewhere. In a few months or years, you'll rediscover these hidden phones and having no further use to you, these old units will most likely end up in your garbage bin and thence, in your city's landfill."

A furniture refinishing company has launched a new electronics recycling program to deal with waste electronics generated by furniture remodeling projects. The Refinishing Touch is an Alpharetta, Ga., company that offers on-site furniture refinishing, re-upholstery and armoire modification services to hotel chains and the federal government. Recently the company has conducted armoire modifications for several hotel chains upgrading television sets in guest rooms from CRTs to HD flat panel displays. The company is launching the new program to deal with those discarded displays. The company will guarantee TVs accepted through the program are recycled in compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration and EPA industry standards as well as all applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations. The company also is in the process of gaining no-landfill certification for the program. Waste & Recycling News, 1/13/10.

While electronics waste or e-waste recycling partnerships are providing significant environmental benefits by keeping waste out of landfills, they are also giving manufacturers and retailers an environmental marketing edge by providing their customers with a needed service, together with financial incentives, whether its through gift cards or charitable donations. Here are a few of the most recent partnerships aimed at providing responsible recycling programs for consumers and businesses. Environmental Leader, 7/23/09.

As industry groups file suit against a New York City e-waste recycling program, AT&T is ramping up its own wireless recycling initiatives, showing the divergent attitude that is emerging among sellers of electronic devices. AT&T estimates it will collect roughly 14 million wireless devices for recycling by the end of 2011, which will keep more than 920 tons of primary materials and more than 13 tons of toxic waste out of landfills. Post provides highlights of AT&T e-waste initiative, information on lawsuit filed in NYC, and information on the Electronics Stewardship Association of British Columbia (ESABC). ESABC is revising the Environmental Handling Fees (EHFs) charged on products which were regulated for the launch of the program August 1, 2007. Most charges will be lowered between 20 to 75 percent. These changes will become effective on August 1, 2009 and are directly related to computer, printer, monitor and TV purchases.

Scientific American, 7/17/09, article by Larry Greenemeier. Most people assume that their trash ends up in a landfill somewhere far away (if they think about this at all). But growing concern over the environmental impact of waste-discarded electronics, in particular-has prompted a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to take a high-tech approach to studying exactly what people are tossing out and where those items are ending up. The researchers, part of MIT's Senseable City Lab, have developed electronic tags that they're hoping as many as 3,000 volunteers in Seattle and New York City will affix to different items they throw away this summer as part of the Trash Track program. These tags will contact cell phone towers they pass as they flow through the trash stream to their final destinations, helping the researchers monitor the patterns and costs of urban disposal.

Illinois e-waste legislation that requires manufacturers to establish facilities to accept e-waste from consumers. The law is on a rolling basis and over the next few years the recycling requirements will kick in and by 2012, disposal of certain e-waste in municipal waste and sanitary landfills and at incinerators will be prohibited. The E-Waste Act only applies to electronic equipment taken out of use from residences, but it affects many of the businesses involved in the stream of electronic commerce. There is a civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each day of violation. Devices covered in the legislation include computers, cell phones, televisions, PDAs, printers, fax machines, game consoles, VCRs, DVD players, iPods and others (calculators and typewriters are NOT included).

Associated Press via Forbes, 6/9/09. The Wisconsin Senate has approved (23-10) a bill that would require electronics manufacturers to arrange for recycling of their products.Under Wisconsin's bill, dumping e-waste in landfills would be banned. Manufacturers would have to arrange to recycle 80 percent of the total weight of products they sold in the state in a given year. They also would have to pay up to $5,000 annually to register with state environmental officials.