Ok, I’m going to date myself. When I was a senior in high school, the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore Max Machine could be found in the newly formed computer lab. A year later, 1982, the Commodore 64 appeared featuring 64 kilobytes of memory with sound and graphics performance. It’s hard to believe that only 27 years ago the personnel computer was born (at that point mainly a gaming system). Since then, the amount of consumer electronics in our lives has expanded exponentially and many people can not imagine a world without them.

The main problem is that when these devices have outlived their usefulness this electronic waste (e-waste), to one degree or another, contains hazardous waste such as lead, mercury, acids, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants and PVC plastics. As you can imagine, these elements can contribute to ground water contamination when thrown away while recycling them reduces the need for more resource extraction.

However, not much e-waste ends up getting recycled. According to the EPA, in 2007 there were 2.25 million tons of TVs, cell phones and computer products ready for end-of-life (EOL) management, 18% were collected for recycling and 82% were disposed of in landfills. And even the materials reported as being recycled may not end up being recycled in an environmentally sound manner.

In 2005, a coalition of environmental groups released a report through the Basal Action Network revealing that huge quantities e-waste were being exported to China, Pakistan and India where they are processed by men, women and children in operations that are extremely harmful to human health and the environment. These operations involve open burning of plastics and wires, acid works to extract gold by riverbanks, melting and burning of toxic soldered circuit boards and the cracking and dumping of lead-laden cathode ray tubes. The situation in Guiyu, China has become so devastating that potable water must be trucked in from 30 kilometers away for the entire population.

Unfortunately, the US government has done little to help improve the situation. In 2008, a report from the GAO concluded:

                   US regulatory controls do little to stem the export of potentially hazardous used electronics, flowing virtually unrestricted.
                   Existing regulations focus only on CRTs, but companies are confident that they will not get caught.
                   EPA has done little to enforce the CRT rule and has no plan or timetable for developing an enforcement strategy.

So here’s the good news. Many states, in absence of US regulations, have started to implement mandatory collection and recycling programs for the most hazardous electronics, making the producers of these electronics responsible for the cost of the program. This type of approach is referred to as Product Stewardship: manufacturers being held responsible for all costs of their product from cradle to grave creating the incentive to limit the use of toxic materials, make their electronics easier to upgrade and ultimately make their products easier to recycle. In these situations, the materials and their final destinations for recycling are required to meet rigorous standards regarding worker safety and the environment.

In Latah and Whitman County, residents are able to recycle TVs, Monitors, CPUs and Laptops for free at Moscow Recycling (882-0590) and Pullman Disposal (334-1914) respectively. The primary reason for this is that the State of Oregon has banned these items from their landfills, where Latah County’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)is shipped. Whitman County also sends their MSW to Oregon but the State of Washington has implemented a state wide program to see that these items are recycled. Other e-waste may be recycled at these establishments but a fee is required. Please call ahead for drop-off hours and fees.