Electronics Recycling

HP REWARDS RESPONSIBLE ELECTRONICS RECYCLING

Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto, Calif., has introduced the HP Planet Partners e-Coupon program to encourage and reward the recycling of unwanted computer equipment.

The program rewards consumers who recycle computer hardware from any manufacturer through HP’s recycling service with up to $50 toward the purchase of a new product on hpshopping.com. The e-Coupon program began Feb. 1 and will run through April 30 in the U.S. only.

"With the HP Planet Partner e-Coupon program everyone wins," Sam Szteinbaum, vice president, North America Consumer Computing Organization, HP Personal Systems Group, says. "The environment benefits because one less computer will go to a landfill, and consumers can save money on the purchase of new products bought at hpshopping.com."

The recycling service is part of the HP Planet Partners program, which includes a range of environmental and recycling initiatives. Accessed via the Web at www.hp.com/recycle, the user-friendly service includes pickup, transportation, evaluation for reuse or donation and environmentally sound recycling for products ranging from PCs and printers to servers and scanners.

Developed with Noranda Inc., Toronto, HP’s recycling facility in Roseville, Calif., is one of the world’s largest, currently processing up to 3 million pounds of used equipment each month. A similar facility is located near Nashville, Tenn.

The $4 million processing line includes specially designed shredders to grind equipment into pieces the size of a quarter. From there, a series of separators and magnets pull out the component metals and plastics for recycling, reclaiming a variety of commonly-traded secondary commodities.

MASSACHUSETTS POLITICIAN RE-INTRODUCES E-WASTE BILL

Massachusetts House member Mark Carron has re-introduced a slightly modified electronics waste take back bill for the current session.

According to a report in the Recycling Policy NewsBriefs E-mail Bulletin from Raymond Communications, this version of the bill states that manufacturers must ensure collection of cathode ray tubes (CRTs), or they must show membership in a national take-bake organization that accomplishes the same thing. However, Carron has dropped a 95 percent recovery goal contained in an earlier bill that hit the House floor in late 2002.

The Bulletin reports that despite a delay in the hearing because of a change in committee chairs, Carron says his bill will get attention in 2003 because local governments don’t want to pay for e-waste recycling because of their tight financial situations. The report adds that more than 100 Massachusetts towns have passed resolutions supporting a computer take-back bill in the state Legislature.

ELECTRONICS SUMMIT COMING TO BOSTON

The International Association of Electronics Recyclers (IAER) and the Computer Society Technical Committee on Electronics and the Environment of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.) presents the fourth Electronics Recycling Summit May 19-22, 2003, in Boston.

The event is held in coordination with 11th International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment. Both events have been designated as the "2003 Going Green International Congress and Exhibition."

The event’s organizers say it will "provide an opportunity for the electronics industry and the electronics recycling industry to share technical and scientific knowledge, as well as the latest operational and management strategies, business practices and regulatory concerns." The event brings together engineers, managers, electronics recyclers, and others engaged in the research, development, manufacturing and recycling of electronic products.

The 2003 event includes updates on environmental design, manufacturing, research, marketing, recycling practice and policy broken down into 19 sessions presented over a four-day span.

Guest speakers at general sessions includes Brad Allenby, a vice president with AT&T Corp., Bedminster, N.J.; Eileen Clausen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, Washington; Chris Tuppen of British Telecommunications Group, London, and chair of the Global e- Sustainability Initiative; and John Howard, the Federal Environmental Executive.

The Electronics Recycling Summit portion of the event, to be held Thursday, May 22, includes a panel of representatives addressing their roles the global electronics recycling infrastructure. They will also address the impact proposed regulatory changes may have on their businesses.

Additional conference information and a registration form can be found online at the IAER’s Web site, www.IAER.org.

ability to provide materials recovery services.

The panel will address recycling best practices and discuss how pending regulatory changes may affect their operations, including recent scrutiny of the international shipment of materials.

Additional conference information and a registration form can be found online at the IAER’s Web site, www.IAER.org.

EPSON INTRODUCES RECYCLING PROGRAM

Epson America Inc., Long Beach, Calif., has launched a hardware recycling program it says will make electronics recycling easy and affordable for customers.

The Web-based Epson Recycle Program is geared toward people without convenient electronics recycling drop-off locations. Participants pay $10 per product to cover the cost of shipping eligible Epson hardware via UPS to a licensed recycling facility. In return, the customer receives a $5 electronic coupon to apply toward a future purchase with Epson. Individuals, businesses or organizations may recycle up to 10 products at a time.

Those seeking more information on the program, which includes most Epson products, or who wish to order a recycling package with a pre-paid shipping label, can visit Epson’s Web site at www.epson.com/recycle.

EPA PLUGS IN

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has kicked off a campaign called Plug-In To Recycling designed to encourage Americans to reuse or recycle used electronics.

In addition to the EPA, companies such as Best Buy, AT&T Wireless, Sony, Panasonic, Dell, Sharp, Recycle America, EnviroCycle Inc. and Nxtcycle are involved in the campaign. The program seeks to increase consumer awareness concerning the value of reusing and recycling electronics and to provide additional opportunities to reuse and recycle electronics throughout the country.

"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," Marianne Lamont Horinko, EPA assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response, says.

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 percent to 35 percent and to 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.