Hospital Pollution Prevention Roundtable

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• Hospital Pollution Prevention Roundtable
• Managing Electronic Waste
• Portland, Oregon
• September 13, 2005

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Trends and Practices in Electronics Recycling

• Total Reclaim Background
• Exporting Harm The High Tech Trashing of Asia
  Basel Action Network (BAN)
• BAN Pledge of Environmental Stewardship
• Regulatory Trends
• Markets for Residuals
• Choosing a Vendor

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Total Reclaim Background

• 1990 Recycling Appliances and Industrial
  Refrigeration Equipment
• 1994 EPA Certified Reclaimer of CFCs
• 1997 EcoLights Northwest
• 2000 Monitor and CPU Processing
• 2004 Electronics Shredding

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Magnitude of Problem

• 500,000,000 computers by 2007
• 1 to 2 of Solid Waste Stream
• Washington State
• 6,000,000 TVs
• 3,000,000 Computers
• 50 - 80 Exported

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Why Recycle Electronics?

• Hazardous Materials
• Lead Monitor glass and circuit boards
• 3 - 8 lbs per monitor
• Mercury Flat panel screens
• Batteries NiCad, NiMHi, Li, Li-ion
• Valuable Materials copper, silver, gold,
  platinum, aluminum, steel

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E-waste Timeline

• Early Efforts
• NEPSI Began 2001 2 year stakeholder process
• February 2002 Exporting Harm Release
  Pivotal Role in Debate
• Regulatory Changes
• Industrial Practices

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Basel Convention

• Reduce Hazardous Waste Creation
• National Self-sufficiency in Management of
  Hazardous Waste
• No Trade of Hazardous Waste to Non-OECD
  Countries
• Informed Consent by both Exporting and Importing
  Countries

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Pledge of True Stewardship

• No land-filling/incineration of hazardous e-waste
• No export of hazardous e-waste from developed to
  non-developed countries
• No use of prison labor for recycling
• Developed EMS systems and BMPs
• Ensure vendors meet environmental regs and goals
• Provide visible tracking of hazardous e-wastes
• Provide adequate financial assurance, insurance,
  and closure funding
• Support Extended Producer Responsibility programs
• Support design for environment and toxics
  reduction

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Electronics Recycling Monitor Processing

• Manual Disassembly
• CRT Glass
• Glass-to-Glass
• Lead Smelting
• Metals
• Circuit Boards
• Plastics

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Possible Solutions to the Growing E-waste Problem

• Federal Legislation
• 8 per unit tax credit (5,000/year)
• 15 per unit tax credit to consumers
• State Legislation
• Disposal Bans
• End of Life Fees
• Front end financing
• Visible versus invisible

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Financing Systems

• Advanced Recovery Fee (ARF)
• Specific fee paid for each product sold
• Collected by retailer from customer
• Could be visible or invisible
• Could be submitted by retailer or manufacturer
• Could cover some or all of system
• Cost Internalization
• Cost is included in the cost of a product
• No visible fee to retailer or customer
• Manufacturers responsible for system and costs
• Could cover some or all of system costs

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Does the Financing System

• cover all the costs of collection, transport,
  processing?
• place the responsibility on government or
  manufacturers?
• encourage robust and convenient collections for
  the public?
• allow local businesses, charities, etc. to
  participate?
• provide feedback to manufacturers to improve
  design of products and/or systems?
• have broad enough support to get legislation
  passed?

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Choosing a Recycling Vendor

• Audit the Facility
• Ask for References
• Ask About Compliance History
• Talk to Regulating Agencies
• Apply a reasonability test to services
• Are they paying or charging for service?
• Do you believe what they tell/show you?

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Additional Resources

• Northwest Product Stewardship Council
  www.productstewardship.net
• Creating an Electronics Recycling Event
  http//www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve/plugin/to
  olkit.htm
• Washington ESHB 2488 Process http//www.ecy.wa.gov
  /programs/swfa/ewaste/
• New England Electronics Legislation Project
  http//www.nerc.org

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• Contact Info
• Craig Lorch
• [phone]
• clorch_at_totalreclaim.com