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From CBIA News, April 2003
Don’t trash those old computers
Even small businesses must follow ‘universal waste’
rules for used electronics
Considering how fast PCs and other types of electronic equipment become obsolete, it wouldn’t take long to accumulate a storage roomful of unwanted equipment.
What to do with all that “e-junk”?
Here’s what not to do with it: Put it out with the trash.
Already, more than 3.2 million tons of electronic waste winds up in landfills, according to the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). That’s a big, and growing, problem, the EPA says. By 2005, about 250 million computers are expected to become obsolete, and 130 million mobile phones a year will be discarded.
Throwing out electronic equipment wastes reusable materials. It can also contaminate the environment, since electronic items contain hazardous substances, such as lead, cadmium and mercury. The cathode ray tube in a computer, for instance, “contains a significant amount of lead, [and] some electronics have mercury switches,” says Tom Metzner, an environmental analyst for the Connecticut Department of Environ-mental Protection’s (DEP’s) Waste Management Bureau.
For those reasons, both the EPA and the DEP include “used electronics” on the list of “universal wastes” for which businesses must follow certain disposal and handling procedures. (The DEP has adopted the EPA rules). These procedures are less cumbersome than those required by full-blown hazardous-waste regulations. They basically just call for commonsense precautions, such as “don’t break it” or “don’t hang onto it for a long time,” says DEP’s Metzner.
The universal-waste rules consider a “used electronic device” to be any device or component of a device that contains a circuit board or a cathode ray tube and is used primarily for data transfer or storage, communication, or entertainment purposes. Examples include computers, computer peripherals, monitors, copying machines, scanners, printers, radios, televisions, camcorders, VCRs, compact disc players, digital video disc players, MP3 players, telephones and stereos.
The procedures your business should follow will depend on whether it’s a large- or small-quantity generator or handler of universal wastes. A small-quantity handler generates more than 100 but less than 1,000 kilograms of hazardous waste in a calendar month (with some exceptions). And “a small quantity handler can accumulate not more than 5,000 kilograms total of universal waste (batteries, pesticides, thermostats, lamps and used electronics collectively) at any one time,” the DEP regulations state. “In general, the time limit begins when the generator first determines that the universal waste is a waste. It must be marked, labeled and dated at that time.”
Besides spelling out how to do that, the regulations cover how to store and then ship the waste items off-site.
To dispose of the items, you may want to have an electronics recycler pick them up. These recyclers disassemble the items to salvage their parts and reclaim materials such as precious metals, steel, glass and plastic. The
DEP Web site
has links to electronics recyclers in Connecticut.
Your trash may be another’s treasure
But perhaps your unwanted electronics don’t have to become waste at all. Rather than disposing of or recycling a piece of unwanted but usable equipment, why not donate it instead? Something you consider obsolete may suit the needs of a nonprofit community group.
“Many nonprofit and charitable organizations are able to accept working electronic equipment, particularly computers, and offer them to schools, community organizations, and needy individuals,” states the Web site of the
National Recycling Coalition’s Electronics Recycling Initiative. As the coalition points out, the nonprofit organizations “may be able to provide documentation of your donation, so that it may be applied to your federal income tax return.”
Before donating electronic items to any nonprofit or school, make sure the organization wants it, DEP’s Metzner says.
Goodwill and the Salvation Army may accept old computers and other types of electronics for reuse. And the National Recycling Coalition, in cooperation with the EPA, maintains a
national database of electronics recyclers, reuse organizations and municipal programs.
The next time you’re wondering what to do with an old computer, printer or other electronic item, remember: Reusing or recycling the equipment is better than relegating it to the trash heap.
Your old cell phone could save a life!
Donating old cellular phones may actually save lives. The Connecticut State Police accepts the phones, which are reprogrammed so they can only be used to dial 911. Then the phones are given to domestic-abuse victims or senior citizens.
Contact your local State Police troop.
For more information
You can find the DEP’s Universal Waste Rule online. And you can get compliance assistance by calling the DEP at 1–888–424–4193.
Other helpful Web sites:
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Sidebar:
Let employees know: Household electronics can be recycled too
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