Contractors responsible for recycling government computers and other electronic equipment aren’t held accountable to certification standards and environmental regulations, according to the leader of a House oversight committee.

In letters last week to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and General Services Administration chief Martha Johnson, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., expressed concern that the two agencies aren’t doing enough to ensure the safe disposal of old computers and other equipment used by the government.

“I am concerned that the [GSA Federal Supply Schedule] does not adequately direct agencies toward companies with the highest e-waste recycling standards,” Towns wrote. “I am also concerned that there may be a lack of direct oversight of e-waste recycling to ensure proper waste handling.”

According to the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, computer hardware has an average lifespan of seven years, but federal equipment typically is recycled after just three years. The government disposes of an estimated 500,000 computers annually. A 2008 Government Accountability Office audit found, despite EPA regulations, the companies responsible for e-waste often export electronics to developing countries, which dispose of them in unsafe conditions.

EPA has developed a responsible recycling, or R2, certification process for the safe disposal of e-waste. But only two of the 60 waste recycling contractors on GSA’s Schedule 899-5 meet the R2 criteria, according to Towns.

Full Article: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100510_8749.php

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The Environmental Protection Agency has kicked off a campaign called Plug-In Recycling to encourage Americans to reuse or recycle used electronics.

In addition to the EPA, other groups involved in the partnership include Best Buy, AT&T Wireless, Sony, Panasonic, Dell, Sharp, Recycle America, Envirocycle Inc., and Nxtcycle. The goal of the program is to heighten the awareness of the value of reusing and recycling electronics, and to provide increased opportunities to reuse and recycling the materials throughout the country.

The program was announced Jan. 11.

“In the past decade, electronics have spurred economic growth and improved our lives in countless ways, but our growing reliance on electronics has given rise to a new environmental challenge: safe and thoughtful management of electronic waste,” said 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 non-profit organizations have established reuse and recycling programs for electronics,” Horinko added. “We want to get the word out about these opportunities and build momentum for even more reuse and recycling programs.”

The campaign is one of several new EPA efforts under the Agency’s Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC), which seeks to increase the national recycling rate from 30 to 35 percent and cut the generation of 30 harmful chemicals by 2005.

Under the RCC, EPA is working with electronics manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, and government agencies to reduce the environmental impacts of electronic products during their production, use, and disposal. The Agency will also establish partnerships and alliances with industry, states and environmental groups; provide training, tools and technology assistance for businesses, governments and citizen groups and get the word out through outreach and assistance to the general population, especially to youth and minority groups.

RCC efforts also include: EPA’s ENERGY STAR program, which encourages the manufacture and use of more energy efficient products; and the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive’s Federal Electronics Stewardship Challenge. This latter program will use the substantial buying power of the federal government to promote, among other things, the purchase of environmentally preferable electronic products.

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http://www.recyclingtoday.com/News/news.asp?ID=3427

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By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Special for USA TODAY

Consumers saddled with old cellphones, TVs and computers are flocking to electronics recycling events, which have sprung up in more than 1,000 communities over the past four years.

But don’t be fooled, activists warn. Items collected at free events are sometimes destined for salvage yards in developing nations, where toxins spill into the water, the air and the lungs of laborers paid a few dollars per day to extract materials.

“If nobody is paying (the collectors) to take this stuff, especially if they’re getting a lot of televisions, then they are very likely exporting because that’s how they make the economics work,” says Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, a San Francisco-based advocacy group.

“E-waste,” or electronics trash, is piling up faster than ever, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Americans discarded 47 million computers in 2005, up from 20 million in 1998. Factor in other forms of electronics, and the nation now dumps between 300 million and 400 million electronic items per year, according to estimates from the EPA and the TakeBack Coalition.

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Link: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/environment/2008-07-06-ewaste-recycling_N.htm

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Posted on: Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 15:00 CST

CHICAGO, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Chances are you bought or received some new, high-tech electronic equipment over the past year or during the holidays. Even newer, higher-tech gear is being introduced this week at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

What happens when changes in technology render your gadget obsolete? It becomes “e-scrap,” one of the planet’s fastest growing environmental concerns. E-scrap contains heavy metals and other toxins that can be hazardous to human health and the environment. For example, monitors and TVs can contain between two and eight pounds of lead and smaller amounts of other contaminants like cadmium and mercury.

As much as 4 percent of the municipal solid waste is e-scrap. Americans discarded more than 154 million computers in 2005, not counting the latest generation of game systems, cell phones, PDA’s and MP3 players that will soon enough lose their glow and be replaced with some shiny new device.

To keep hazardous materials out of landfills, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency encourages Americans to recycle or reuse old electronic equipment.

“Recycling electronic equipment isn’t quite as easy as leaving it in a bin in your front yard, as we’ve learned to do with paper and plastics, but health and environmental benefits of recycling e-scrap are tremendous,” said EPA Region 5 Administrator Mary A. Gade. “Also, we know that half of the devices thrown away still work. They can be donated to non-profit organizations, which keep the device out of the landfill, but with the added benefit of a charitable contribution.”

Gade pointed out that some manufacturers have established recycling programs for their electronic products, and that many communities in Michigan have drop-off points where people can take e-scrap for proper disposal.

For more useful information on recycling electronic equipment, visit http://www.epa.gov/ecycling . A great national reuse and recycling resource is http://www.earth911.org/ . Michigan residents should check http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3585_4130-12387–,00.html and http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3585_4130_18096—,00.html .

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5

CONTACT: Karen Thompson of U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyRegion 5, +1-312-353-8547, thompson.karen@epa.gov

Web site: http://www.epa.gov/http://www.epa.gov/ecyclinghttp://www.earth911.org/

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

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Agency: Environmental Quality Notification requirements:

Notify the Waste and Hazardous Materials Division when electronic equipment from residents is collected, stored, processed, or dismantled, in excess of 1,000 pounds, on-site at any one time. Submit the form EQP5205at least two weeks prior to conducting the activity.

Memorandum: Regulation of Electronic Wastes(September 20, 2002)

For recyclers collecting electronics from anyone besides residential clients: Notify as a large quantity universal waste handler when handling 11,000 pounds or more of electronics and other universal waste collected from entities other than households and obtain a site identification number.

Notifications may be done by applying online through MiTAPS   or by mailing in the form EQP5150 . There is a $50 application fee. To check if a site identification number has already been assigned to a collection site, go to the Waste Data System   and select advanced search. It is recommended to search using the street number in the address field and zip code in the postal code field. If you need assistance looking up a number or filling out the application, call the Environmental Assistance Center at 800-662-9278.

The following Michigan regulatory guidance documents contain specific information about electronic waste. 

• Electronic Equipment  (pdf)
• Electric Lamps  (pdf) (cathode ray tubes are considered electric lamps in Michigan)
• Universal Waste  (pdf)

Since “recycling” can mean different things, discuss if your recycling operations would be subject to the industrial storm water program with the Water Bureau District Office. See the industrial storm water program information including sample Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) and links to the storm water operator certification.

Water Bureau District Office Staff Contact List

US EPA Responsible Recycling Practices published October 30, 2008. This publication is a set of guidelines for accredited certification programs to assess electronics recyclers’ environmental, worker health and safety, and security practices. Since January 2006, EPA has facilitated a multi-stakeholder group to develop this document.

U.S. EPA approved CRT recycling exporters. This website contains the list of U.S EPA approved exporters of CRTs destined for recycling per the CRT rule.

Link: http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3585_4130_18096-148783–,00.html

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