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E-waste Recycling Could Mean Millions in Profit

More than 6,000 computers go to waste every day in California, according to a new study prepared by a coalition of industry groups under sponsorship of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Cleaning up computer and electronic waste could cost industry as much as $232 million, or generate as much as a $36 million profit, depending on what solutions are chosen, the report found. Read More

(Updated on July 24, 2024)

More than 6,000 computers go to waste every day in California, according to a new study prepared by a coalition of industry groups under sponsorship of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Cleaning up computer and electronic waste could cost industry as much as $232 million, or generate as much as a $36 million profit, depending on what solutions are chosen, the report found.

Co-author Tachi Kiuchi, the chairman and CEO emeritus of Mitsubishi Electric America, and Chairman of the Future 500, said the report was intended as “a menu of possible options to solve the problem, to help industry and government compare the costs and benefits of different computer product stewardship approaches.”

The report was prepared by the non-profit Global Futures Foundation and the Future 500, a business network, under contract with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Future 500 is an international network of leadership companies that forges partnerships to solve environmental and social problems. It found that:

  • More than 2.2 million computers are sold each year in California. Most of these are obsolete in little more than two years.
  • Based on this, more than 6,000 computers go to waste every day in California. Most are stored in back rooms and offices because people are unwilling or reluctant to discard them as trash. However, an increasing number are entering the waste stream.
  • E-waste represents from 2% to 5% of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream.
  • An estimated 300,000 tons of e-waste ended up in U.S. landfills in 2000, and the problem is expected to grow four-fold in the next few years.
  • E-waste contains significant quantities of toxic materials. Each computer or television display monitor contains an average of two to eight pounds of lead. Monitor glass contains about 20% lead by weight.
  • Approximately 70% of the heavy metals (including mercury and cadmium) found in landfills come from electronic equipment discards. These heavy metals and other hazardous substances found in electronics can contaminate groundwater and pose other environmental and public health risks.

The State of California Department of Toxics has established that it is illegal to dispose of CRTs in landfills. (A copy of this letter can be found on the Materials for the Future Web site, http://www.materials4future.org.)

The three major areas of concern that are being raised to the surface as the most critical to solving this problem are:

  • To catalyze market and infrastructure development for computer and electronics recycling;
  • To establish roles and financial responsibilities for stakeholders, like computer manufacturers, retailers, and purchasers;
  • To encourage wider use of design for environment (DfE) principles.

“It is our ability to constructively address these three issues that will establish the success or failure of our stakeholder process in the months to come,” said Kiuchi

For copies of the report, visit the Future 500 Web site, http://www.globalfutures.org, or write cate@globalfutures.org.

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