The Providence Journal: Old Gadgets Need Proper Burial
Filed under: Earth 911 - April 20, 2008
By Sara Schaefer Munoz
Rapidly improving technology and a consumer thirst for all the latest gadgets are leaving people with a growing number of old electronics. Even though they should be recycled, most end up in the trash or gather dust in the basement. Now, states and manufacturers are trying to make it easier for people to recycle old TVs, iPods and even fluorescent light bulbs.
Retailers are seizing on “green” marketing opportunities by launching recycling initiatives. Best Buy last year started a program that sponsors local drop-off events around the country, where people can bring in carloads of unused items. In October, Office Depot began selling recycling “boxes” at $5 to $15 that customers fill with office items such as laptops and fax machines to be recycled. (The company says the cost of the box helps fund the program.) Ace Hardware retailers in the Chicago area and Wisconsin last year started programs to recycle mercury-containing compact fluorescent bulbs; Wal-Mart held a pilot take-back day last summer at 350 of its stores. Meanwhile, states are tightening their waste laws: Minnesota, for example, passed a law in 2007 that requires manufacturers of TVs and computers to collect and recycle by weight 60 percent of what they sold in the previous year.
Computers, televisions and other electronics contain materials such as lead, cadmium and mercury, which can pose a risk to human health and the environment. Energy Star-labeled electronics—touted as eco-friendly due to the energy they save—still contain hazardous materials. The mercury in LCD TV screens and the lead in computer monitors, for example, may contaminate soil or water if not handled properly. There’s no federal law for the disposal of consumer electronics, though a handful of states have made it illegal to throw them in the trash. Rhode Island is not among them.
The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation’s Eco Depot holds monthly collections of such materials at the Johnston landfill, on a Saturday morning, as well as less frequent collections at sites around the state. Residents can drop off computers and cell phones for free, but must pay $5 to drop off a TV, which may be dropped off only in Johnston. The next collection in Johnston is May 3.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, old consumer electronics accounted for about 1.5 percent of 250 million tons of trash in 2006, up from one percent in 2000. According to a 2006 report from the International Association of Electronics Recyclers, an industry group based in Albany, N.Y., roughly 15 percent to 20 percent of electronic waste was recycled, up from 10 percent to 15 percent in 2003. The figures don’t include products that were returned to manufacturers for recycling.
Some environmental advocates and researchers warn that many recycled items may end up in landfills anyway, or be recycled improperly in poorer countries.
Nevertheless, more people are interested in recycling. Richard Leventhal, a small-business owner in Wellington, Fla., admits that he has put cell phones, a TV and a computer monitor in the garbage in the past. “I really didn’t put a whole lot of thought into it,” he says. “But with this attention to the environment, I started to.”
He was in Office Depot about two months ago and saw a pamphlet for the office-supply chain’s recycling program. He now takes his personal and business electronics in, because “it’s easy. I just fill a box and bring it back.”
Another product that should be recycled is the fluorescent light bulb. As part of the government’s focus on energy and the environment, Americans are urged to buy compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use only about 25 percent of the energy and last up to 10 times as long as traditional incandescent bulbs. Nearly 300 million such bulbs were sold in U.S. in 2007, compared with 100 million two years earlier, according to the Department of Energy.
But, unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, these are just like regular fluorescent lights in that they contain mercury, a metal hazardous to human health and the environment, said Sarah Kite, recycling manager for the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation. So they’re considered a form of hazardous waste when it comes to disposal.
Most people don’t realize that, Kite said. Manufacturers “didn’t do a good job of letting consumers know that these items contain mercury . . . They left it to consumers to figure out on their own, and for environmental groups to raise the alarm.”
That’s why word has been slow to spread, Kite said.
“Who’s going to read the warnings on a light bulb package?” asks John Roth, a sales manager in Portland, Ore. He has several bulbs around his house.
Kite agreed. “There’s been some pressure for producer responsibility,” she said, to make manufacturers and retailers responsible for alerting consumers and for providing ways for disposing of them.
Consumers are urged not to toss them in the trash. In some states, such as California, it’s illegal to throw them away; they must be recycled. Rhode Island does not have such a law.Still, many cities and towns don’t have recycling programs for the bulbs, and consumers aren’t sure what to do with them.
Resource Recovery accepts CFL bulbs for recycling, along with other common household hazardous wastes such as batteries, pool chemicals, mothballs, nail polish, cleaners and flea collars at its Eco Depot one Saturday a month in Johnston and less frequently at other sites around the state, just as it does with e-waste, but not necessarily on the same day. You must also make an appointment and label the waste, so Resource Recovery staff will know what they’re dealing with and can dispose of it safely.
Many local public works departments also have or are considering programs offering local collections of compact fluorescent bulbs around the state, Kite said, so check with your local agency.
An estimated 25 percent of all mercury-containing bulbs—including residential compact fluorescents—are recycled, according to Paul Abernathy, the executive director of the Association of Lighting and Mercury Recyclers, an industry group in Calistoga, Calif. There are little more than two dozen licensed facilities in the United States for processing mercury waste, he says.
“Everywhere we go, we are being encouraged to use [compact fluorescent bulbs], but there’s really a lack of reasonably accessible drop-off spots” when they burn out, he says.
The amount of mercury in compact fluorescent bulbs is small, about five milligrams at most, and is sealed inside the glass tubing, according to the EPA. Manufacturers have been working to lower that amount. As long as people clean up broken bulbs right away and don’t let kids touch them, people should be able to prevent contamination in their home, says Ellen Silbergeld, a professor of environmental health sciences at Johns Hopkins University. (The government suggests airing out the room for at least 15 minutes as a precaution. You can see the Environmental Protection Agency’s full instructions on dealing with a mercury “spill” from a broken bulb or thermometer at http://www.epa.gov/mercury/spills/index.htm.) Yet Silbergeld says she is more concerned about the environmental impact if millions of these bulbs end up in landfills or incinerators.
“I don’t think anybody has really grappled with this,” she says.
The Department of Energy, which encourages consumers to buy the energy-saving bulbs, acknowledges they can be “cumbersome to recycle and dispose of,” but says the agency is working to increase the availability of options. The agency also says that coal-fired power plants are the greatest source of environmental mercury—U.S. power plants emitted 50 tons of mercury in 2006—and using compact fluorescent bulbs cuts down on the amount of coal burned to make electricity.
When it comes to computers, many major manufacturers—such as Apple and Dell—will take old computers back. The recycling of TVs, especially large ones, is also onerous. Sony Electronics started a take-back program in September. Consumers can find a list of more than 80 drop-off points at www.sony.com/recycle. None is in Rhode Island but some are in nearby Massachusetts.
If consumers want to know what else to do with their old electronics or fluorescent bulbs, several Web sites can help them find a drop-off place in their area, such as www.earth911.org and www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling. They can also check with the manufacturer, as well as their local utility and waste-management division.
Yet there is some concern about where the “recycled” items actually end up. According to Barbara Kyle, the national coordinator for the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, a national group based in San Francisco that promotes responsible recycling, roughly 50 percent to 80 percent of electronic waste that goes to recyclers goes on to developing countries, especially China, where it often isn’t properly dealt with. There, workers break apart the items to get at the metals and other components that can be resold and are often exposed to toxic substances in the process. (The International Association of Electronics Recyclers says that there are good and bad recycling operations all over the world and that it urges its members to adhere to best industry practices.)
Kyle suggests that, if possible, consumers recycle their items through the manufacturer because the manufacturer is likely to have responsible practices to protect its reputation. Consumers can also check a database called e-Stewards at www.ban.org. There, they can search for a local recycling firms that have taken a pledge not to export the waste to developing countries or allow it to end up in landfills or incinerators.