RAA Holds Event in Connecticut
Waste Management Inc. and Recycle America Alliance LLC (RAA) are collaborating with Elec-
troniCycle, Panasonic and Sharp on the launch of new electronics recycling services in the state of Connecticut. New collection services kicked-off May 15 with a one-day collection event for residents and businesses in the towns of Portland, Middletown and Cromwell.
The event was held at Waste Management New England Environmental Transport Inc. (WM NEET) in Portland. Panasonic and Sharp branded products were accepted free, though fees applied to other products.
"We are very pleased to be expanding our service footprint in New England through this new effort in Connecticut," Kevin McCarthy, director of electronics recycling for Waste Management Inc., majority owner of RAA, says. "We expect additional efforts in this area in the near term as we continue to develop sustainable and cost-effective ways to build out America’s leading electronics recycling infrastructure."
WM NEET collected the used electronics from numerous sources and consolidated them into one outbound shipment to ElectroniCycle for recycling, providing a cost-efficient means for small businesses and individuals to recycle their electronic scrap.
RAA’s eCycling service has collection and/or processing operations in more than 20 states and claims to be the nation’s leading coast-to-coast provider of electronics recycling services. RAA has electronics processing facilities in Phoenix, Houston and Minneapolis. It has service contracts with ElectroniCycle of Gardner, Mass.; E-Recycling of Paramount, Calif.; Quicksilver Recycling Services of Tampa; and Sims Recycling Solutions, Hayward, Calif.
More information is available online at www.wm.com or www.recy
cleamericaalliance.com.
REDEMTECH TAKES STEWARDSHIP PLEDGE
The Computer TakeBack Campaign, a coalition of environmental groups, has approved Redemtech’s Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship.
The Pledge, which is sponsored by Computer TakeBack members Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) of San Jose, Calif., and Basel Action Network (BAN) of Seattle, calls for recyclers to "uphold the world’s most rigorous environmental and social criteria" for the recycling of electronic scrap, according to a release from Redemtech.
In signing the Pledge, Redemtech, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, has vowed to continue to prevent hazardous electronic components from being sent to municipal incinerators or to landfills, exported to developing countries or dismantled by prison labor. The company also has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that the entire recycling chain, including downstream intermediaries and recovery operations, is meeting all applicable environmental and health regulations.
"Redemtech is unique in the recycling market for its commitment to the reuse of electronic assets and for considering recycling as an option in the process of handling legacy waste only after all possible means of reuse have been applied," Ted Smith, executive director of SVTC, says.
"Redemtech has always operated on the assertion that the best use for maturing technology is the highest use," Redemtech President Bob Houghton says. "That means reuse whenever possible."
TEXAS COUNTY CHOOSES DELL
The Travis County Commissioners Court has chosen Dell to provide asset recovery services (ARS) for the county’s current and future computer system purchases. As part of the agreement, Dell immediately removed 850 outdated systems sitting in storage for recycling or redeployment.
"We were purchasing computer hardware from numerous vendors and were spending a lot of time coordinating auctions for our outdated computers," Cyd Grimes, CPM, Travis County purchasing agent, says. "This was difficult to manage, providing little return on investment and causing us concern about where our old computers were ending up."
Grimes adds, "We are standardizing on Dell hardware and asset recovery services because of the quality of the computer systems and commitment from Dell to recycle them."
The Travis County government includes 54 elected officials and about 4,000 employees that run the Sheriff’s department, the criminal and civil court systems, emergency services, health, human services and veterans affairs, transportation and planning and budgeting. The government, which spends from $500,000 to $1 million yearly on computer hardware, will purchase its systems with ARS.
"Our commitment to help customers manage the lifecycle of their IT assets enhances the overall value of their purchase and provides them with excellent value," Gary Cotshott, Dell Services vice president and general manager, says.
Dell has also announced that the U.S. EPA has selected the company to handle its IT lifecycle management.
The EPA signed a blanket purchase agreement with Dell specifying that the agency can purchase or lease up to 10,000 desktops, notebooks and servers during the next three years. As the EPA replaces its old systems, Dell will provide the agency with asset recovery services to either recycle or re-deploy those systems, to help protect the confidential data on them and to dispose of the hardware in a manner designed to safeguard the environment.
More information about Dell ARS programs can be found at www.dell.com/assetrecovery.
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