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Trash Or Treasure?
Environementally speaking, throwing away old PCs does not compute
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Business New Haven
4/14/2003
By: BNH
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Considering how fast PCs and other types of electronic equipment become obsolete, business owners know that it doesn't take long to accumulate a storage roomful of unwanted equipment.
What to do with all that "e-junk"? Here's what not to do with it: throw it in the trash.
Already, more than 3.2 million tons of electronic waste winds up in landfills each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By 2005, about 250 million computers are expected to have become obsolete, and 130 million mobile phones a year will be discarded.
Throwing out electronic equipment wastes reusable materials. It can also contaminate the environment, since electronic items contain such hazardous substances as lead, cadmium and mercury.
The cathode ray tube (CRT) in a computer, for instance, "contains a significant amount of lead, [and] some electronics have mercury switches," says Tom Metzner, an environmental analyst for the state Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP's) Waste Management Bureau.
Earlier this year the EPA launched a "Plug-In to Recycling" campaign to encourage consumers to reuse or recycle old computers, cell phones and other electronic devices. The campaign is a partnership of the EPA and several electronics manufacturers, retailers, recyclers and government agencies.
According to Marianne Lamont Horinko, EPA assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response, "Reusing and recycling electronics is something Americans can do in their everyday lives to protect the environment, and this campaign will show them how.
"Many local governments, electronics manufacturers, retailers, recyclers and nonprofit organizations have established reuse and recycling programs for electronics," Horinko said.
"But these programs are expensive and not nearly sufficient to meet the demand," according to Eric Brown, Connecticut Business & Industry Association environmental specialist. "It's important that ways be found to increase the opportunities for individuals and businesses to recycle their electronics in an economical and environmentally efficient manner."
The state legislature seems to agree. Several bills intended to help make electronics recycling simpler were introduced this year. HB 6259, "An Act Concerning the Recycling of Electronic Devices," has been approved by the Environment Committee
and at press time awaited action by the Finance Committee.
In addition, both the EPA and the DEP have taken steps to encourage recycling of used electronics by adding them to the list of "universal wastes" for which businesses must follow certain disposal and handling procedures. These procedures are less cumbersome than those required by full-blown hazardous-waste regulations. They basically just call for commonsense precautions, such as "don't break it" or "don't hang onto it for a long time," says DEP's Metzner.
The universal-waste rules consider a "used electronic device" to be any device or component of a device that contains a circuit board or a cathode ray tube and is used primarily for data transfer or storage, communication or entertainment purposes.
Examples include computers, peripherals, monitors, copiers, scanners, printers, radios, televisions, camcorders, VCRs, CD and DVD players, MP3 players, telephones and stereos.
Electronics recyclers disassemble the items to salvage parts and reclaim materials such as precious metals, steel, glass and plastic. The DEP Web site has links to electronics recyclers in Connecticut.
An alternative to disposing of or recycling a piece of unwanted but usable equipment is to donate it to a needy nonprofit community group.
Many nonprofit and charitable organizations accept working electronic equipment, particularly computers, and offer them to schools, community organizations and needy individuals. Nonprofit organizations may be able to provide documentation of your donation, so that it may be applied to your federal income tax return.
Goodwill and the Salvation Army may accept old computers and other types of electronics for reuse. And the National Recycling Coalition, in cooperation with the EPA, maintains a national database of electronics recyclers, reuse organizations and municipal programs.
Donating old cellular phones can even save lives. The Connecticut State Police accepts the phones, which are reprogrammed so they can be used to dial 911 only. Then the phones are given to domestic-abuse victims or senior citizens.
Contact your local State Police troop for particulars.
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