Electronics

Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center releases e-scrap survey

The Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center (RMC), Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in partnership with the Center for Survey Research at Penn State Harrisburg, has completed a five-month, statewide survey to determine the amount of e-scrap likely destined for Pennsylvania recycling programs.

According to the survey, part of the Spring 2016 Penn State Poll, 44 percent of Pennsylvanians know where to take electronics to be recycled; 65 percent are willing to travel 10 miles or less to have their electronics recycled; and 50 percent report they do not want to pay to have their electronics recycled.

Using statewide survey data, the RMC estimates:

• About 6.8 million tube televisions and cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors combined remain in Pennsylvania residences, with an average weight of 58 pounds and a combined weight of 396 million pounds.
• The total residential count of in-use and out-of-use electronics equipment in Pennsylvania is about 694 million devices, with a total weight of 1 billion pounds.

The survey attributes the decline of consumer outlets for e-recycling to the state Covered Device Recycling Act of 2010. According to the Pennsylvania RMC’s 2016 findings, only 32 state collection sites accept all covered electronic devices for free as specified in the act.