Electronics Recycling: Status of Federal Initiatives

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Electronics Recycling Status of Federal
Initiatives

• Clare Lindsay
• USEPA
• lindsay.clare_at_epa.gov
• 2003 Electronics Recycling Summit

1EPA
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Overview

• 1. National Electronics Product Stewardship
  Dialogue
• Green Design
• Green Purchasing
• Increasing Recycling
• Ensuring Safe Recycling

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NEPSI Dialogue

• National Electronics Product Stewardship
  Initiative (NEPSI)
• Goal Develop a national financing system,
  shared by manufacturers, retailers, government
  and consumers, to recover and recycle used PCs
  and TVs.
• Approach Multi-stakeholder dialogue aimed at
  identifying a financing system that the parties
  can support and the steps that would be required
  (including necessary infrastructure,
  institutions) to implement the system.
• Partners Over 15 manufacturers and 15 states
  involved. 18 others, including recyclers,
  retailers, NGOs, academics.
• Timing Started in June of 2001. Looking to
  conclude process, with or without recommendatons
  by year end. Next meeting in Seattle in June.
• Small Group Working on Options Small group will
  be recommending two options to larger group
• Visible fee at point of purchase or
• Visible fee, sunsetting in future, to be replaced
  by partial cost internalization

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NEPSI ISSUES STILL TO BE RESOLVED

• precedents for non-government management of funds
• preemption of inconsistent state requirements
• what the financing system will pay for (how much
  assistance for local government collection costs)
• how to build in flexibility for other approaches
  (e.g., companies getting their own products back)

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Green Design

• Sustainable Electronics Design Challenge Project
• Goal Motivate electronics designers and
  manufacturers to fundamentally re-think
  electronics design and to create sustainable
  products for the long term.
• Approach EPA is funding a highly regarded
  design firm to create a set of ambitious design
  criteria for future electronics products which
  manufacturers and designers will be challenged to
  satisfy. Focus on redesigning the products of the
  future. Design criteria will address life cycle
  impacts of electronics and will promote
  development of sustainable electronics products.
  Issue challenge to designers and industry players
  to meet criteria in visionary future products.
  Use judging panel to identify winning
  submissions.
• Partners grantee, manufacturers, designers,
  public and private stakeholders
• Timing Design Challenge launched by November
  2003. Select winners in Summer of 2004.

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Green Purchasing

• Rating system project
• Goal To develop rating system to distinguish
  greener electronic products and drive greater
  demand for same.
• Approach Goal is to develop an easy to use,
  multi-attribute rating system that recognizes
  outstanding electronics design for end-of-life
  management. Rating system to be modeled after
  the LEEDS system (the successful Green Building
  rating system), for current and near future
  electronics products. Rating system will be
  designed for use by public purchasers. Will
  pilot use of the rating system with public
  purchasers and feed results into Federal
  Electronics Challenge.
• Partners EPA HQ, Region 10, grantee, and
  public/private stakeholders.
• Timing Scoping meeting to be held at Intel HQ
  in AZ on June 17. From workshop input,
  development team will be formed to design rating
  tool. Sept-June 2004.

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Federal Electronics Challenge

• Making the Federal Government a model for
  electronics asset management
• Goal To educate and motivate Federal agencies
  to be better stewards of their electronic assets,
  through smarter procurement and better management
  of used electronics.
• Approach Federal facilities to work with
  stakeholders to change their electronics
  purchasing and management practices through peer
  exchanges, development and dissemination of best
  practices, technical assistance and national
  awards for offices that set the leadership
  standard .
• Partners EPA, Office of the Federal
  Environmental Executive, DOD, Federal Network for
  Sustainability.
• Timing Pilots to commence in 2003. To be
  rolled out as a national program in 2004.
• GAO Review Congress recently solicited GAO
  review of how Federal government is managing its
  electronics waste.

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Outreach/Education

• Plug-In to eCycling National Electronics
  Recycling Outreach Campaign
• Goal Increase the number of used electronics
  that are safely collected and recycled nationwide
  by educating consumers on why its important to
  recycle and motivating them to use existing
  collection opportunities across the USA.
• Approach Consumer awareness campaign that is
  linked to actual electronics recycling events
  around Earth Day 2003. Campaign will focus
  greater national attention on electronics
  recycling options, highlight the forward-thinking
  players in electronics recycling, enhance the
  recycling infrastructure, and jump start the
  collection of historic and orphan electronics
  waste.
• Partners ATT Wireless, Best Buy, Sony, Sharp,
  Panasonic, JVC, Dell, Hewlett Packard, Recycle
  America, nxtCycle, Envirocycle. Still interested
  in adding more partners, including state and
  local government.
• Timing and funding Campaign launched in
  January. Many successful collection events
  around Earth Day and more to come.

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Increasing Recycling Opportunities

• Modeling Shared Responsibility Plug-In to
  eCycling Pilot in EPA Region 3
• Goal To demonstrate potential for sustainable
  shared financial responsibility partnerships,
  demonstrate possible economies of scale,
  demonstrate creative new approaches to collecting
  and paying for e-waste recycling.
• Approach EPA will ask industry, retailers,
  recyclers and government to share financial
  and/or physical responsibility for managing
  e-waste in Mid-Atlantic states, building on
  strong team already established in original
  Region 3 pilot. EPA will hold series of
  stakeholder meetings in late June to discuss
  specific partner roles in pilot, and to identify
  creative strategies to lower costs and increase
  recovery. Aim is to see whether a sustainable
  model can be demonstrated and replicated.
• Partners EPA HQ, EPA Region 3, all Region 3
  states and numerous municipalities. EPA will be
  soliciting industry, retailer, recyclers and
  other partners to assist financially with this
  project.

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Safe Recycling

• Goal Provide EPA recognition for electronics
  recyclers who are good environmental stewards
• Approach EPA led development of OECD guidelines
  for environmentally safe management of computers.
  www.oecd.org/env/waste/guidelines.
• Core performance elements include applicable
  EMS in place (targets, monitoring, data
  collection, inspections, etc) plus specific
  guidelines for computer waste (relating to
  melting solder, shredding, grinding, burning and
  other melting).
• EPA looking to develop Performance Track
  incentive for e-waste recyclers to use ESM
  standards. Program would be based on EMS plus
  some guidelines specific to e-waste recyclers
  (like OECD guidelines)
• Partners ISRI, IAER, EIA. Also, states, NGOs.
• Timing Ongoing discussions with Performance
  Track

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CRT Rule

• Goal Facilitate collection of used CRTs for
  reuse and recycling by streamlining regulatory
  handling requirements.
• Approach CRTs sent to a collector or reseller
  for reuse or repair will not be regulated
  (products, not waste). Same with intact, off-spec
  CRTs sent for recycling. Used broken CRTs sent
  for recycling are conditionally excluded from haz
  waste requirements if they comply with universal
  waste-type packaging and labeling requirements
  for storage and shipping.
• Comments on Proposal Many commenters concerned
  that regulatory relief would encourage exports.
  EPA looking at ways to address exports.
• Timing Early 2004

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EPA on ElectronicsBottom Line

• EPA is very invested in electronics because
• 1. Its a visible and interesting challenge
• 2. Electronics are the products of the future
• 3. We want to model new kinds of partnerships
  on product stewardship
• 4. We think we can help
• 5. The parties desire our involvement
• We are offering stakeholders numerous
  opportunities to work together and learn from
  each other to develop solutions that make sense
  and could be nationalized
• EPA cant offer these opportunities indefinitely
  we need commitments and creativity from partners
  to make this work..