Keeping E-Waste Out Of The Landfill
Facility managers can help the environment—and fulfill regulatory requirements—by recycling electronics.
By Anne Vazquez
Virtually every organization contributes to electronic waste (or e-waste) with millions of pounds being disposed of each year. With rapid advances in technology resulting in increasingly quick turnover of computers and other electronic items, facility managers involved in the purchase, maintenance, and disposal of computers, telephones, televisions, and other electronic equipment are in a position to help reroute these objects from the landfill when they are done with them.
Through recycling and reuse efforts, many items can be given a second life. Materials potentially harmful to the ecosystem can be diverted from landfill soil or incinerators. Instead, these substances—which include lead, arsenic, beryllium, and cadmium—can be extracted when disassembling the items into their various components.
While some regulations on e-waste are uniform throughout the country, state and local rules vary. Color cathode ray tubes (CRTs), which are found in computer monitors and televisions, are an example of items under a uniform rule by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These CRTs contain significant amounts of lead, and the EPA has outlined disposal procedures in its hazardous waste rules. Since state, county, and local rules may be more stringent, facility managers can check with those governments to find out the various disposal requirements on e-waste.
So whether a facility manager is motivated by the law or an altruistic sense of responsibility for the environment, there are sustainable alternatives to throwing e-waste in the dumpster. Recycling these items is one option—and one that may be required. Many municipal and county recycling facilities are equipped to accept e-waste from businesses and other organizations. However, some do not have the capability to handle high volumes.
Facility managers can also obtain the services of a private recycling firm.
The services offered by these companies can run the
gamut from simple disassembly down to the extraction
of precious metals. Those companies that do not handle
items all the way to the end of the process will send
along the remaining components downstream to firms
that will handle the next step until all the materials
have been gleaned.
To ensure their items are being handled in an environmentally responsible manner, facility managers can do some research when deciding upon a recycling service. The National Recycling Coalition (NRC), an organization of recycling professionals and advocates, advises making sure a company meets all applicable state and local regulatory requirements. The NRC also recommends making sure the firm properly manages the recovered materials.
Facility managers can ask where the company sends the salvaged materials to—and can look into those companies as well. Downstream recyclers, especially metal refineries, are sometimes located outside of the United States, which can make it difficult to research those operations. While some countries have been pro-active in establishing regulations to monitor electronics recycling, others do not monitor as closely. To assist in this, the International Association of Electronics Recyclers (IAER) provides on its Web site a listing of both international and domestic recycling firms.
A recycling company should also give facility managers a recycling certificate, documenting that the process was performed. “The certificate is a basic item to expect,” says Thory Monsen, operations manager at PC Recycler, Inc., based in Albany, NY.
Founded in 2003, PC Recycler handles a variety of equipment, including computer monitors, terminals, keyboards, telephone equipment, and cell phones. “The majority of what we receive from customers consists of computer and telephone equipment,” Monsen says.
Read the
rest of this story...
