Waste Electronics: A Growing Problem

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Waste ElectronicsA Growing Problem

• Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board
• presentation to the
• Environment and Natural Resources Policy
  Committee
• of the
• Association of Minnesota Counties
• September 18, 2003

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Whats the Problem?

• TVs and Computer Monitors Contain Cathode Ray
  Tubes (CRTs)
• CRTs are the largest source of lead in
  Minnesotas garbage
• Backlog of e-waste
• TVs gt 3.5 million in MN homes
• Computer Monitors gt 2 million in MN homes and
  businesses
• Growing Waste Stream
• 500,000 TVs sold in MN annually
• 400,000 500,000 computer monitors sold annually
• Few disposal options available to residents

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Whats a Cathode Ray Tube?

• A vacuum tube in which images are produced when
  an electron beam strikes a phosphorescent surface
• German scientist Karl Braun originally developed
  the CRT in 1897
• Requires lead to shield users from X-rays

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The Insides of a CRT
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Why is the lead in CRTs a problem?

• Lead is in the phosphorescent coating of the tube
  - fused between 2 pieces of glass, so an unbroken
  CRT is relatively safe
• But crushing CRT glass releases solid lead into
  the environment
• Lead in the funnel and face plate glass - does
  not leach readily
• Lead in the frit which joins the face plate
  glass to the funnel glass leaches readily when
  subjected to TCLP test

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How should CRTs be managed?

• Should NOT be landfilled
• Should NOT be sent to Waste-to-Energy Facilities
• Should be recycled
• Component parts of CRTs can be recycled glass,
  lead, other materials

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Where are Waste Electronic Products Going Now?

• Lots of old TVs and computers stored in homes
  (check your basement!)
• Current Under-developed System
• Privately-Operated Collection Facilities -
  limited
• Government Sponsored (Metro) - limited
• Hennepin County and Minneapolis
• County and Municipal Event Collections
• Manufacturer-Sponsored Programs - limited
• Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, IBM, Dell, Gateway
• Also - illegal dumping and abandoned warehouses

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Its Costly to Recycle End-of-life Electronics
Today

• Separate collection, or drop off
• Labor-intensive disassembly required
• Shipment of components to other parts of the
  country for recycling

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Proposed Solution Shared Responsibility

• Trend Rapid technological advances gt more
  electronic waste
• Trend Less governmental involvement and
  governmental funding
• Common Sense Solution Shared responsibility with
  manufacturers, consumers, and government

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Legislative Product Stewardship Efforts

• Minnesota
• National
• Other Countries

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Minnesota CRT Prohibition

• 2003 Session Prohibition passes
• Effective July 1, 2005, a person may not place
  in mixed municipal solid waste an electronic
  product containing a cathode-ray tube.

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Product StewardshipState Initiatives

• 24 States have introduced legislation
• States with Bans
• Massachusetts
• California
• Maine
• Minnesota!

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National Initiative

• National Electronic Product Stewardship
  Initiative (NEPSI)
• Officially launched in June 2001
• Purpose Seek industry participation in the
  collection, transportation, and recycling of
  waste electronics
• Minnesota has 2 representatives participating in
  NEPSI
• Sherry Enzler, representing the Mn OEA
• Commissioner Jim Kordiak, representing the SWMCB

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Why not wait for a national solution?

• Best case scenario
• Voluntary agreement through NEPSI by end of 2003
• Will likely require Federal legislation to
  implement
• 2 years to get legislation 2 years to start-up
• May be in place by 2008?

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Other Countries Pursuing Product Stewardship

• Japan
• First major economy to adopt regulations
  mandating the recycling of discarded electronic
  products (effective in 2001)
• Consumers pay the direct costs of transporting
  and recycling at the point of recycling
  manufacturers provide hauling and recycling
  facilities
• European Union
• European Parliament passed legislation that will
  require manufacturers to take back their
  electronic products when consumers discard them
  (effective in 2006)
• Requires producers to bear the cost of collecting
  and recycling their discarded electronic products
  from citizens.
• Mandates a timetable for phasing out most toxic
  substances in electronic products
• Canada
• Pending provincial legislation
• Voluntary industry group underway

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Local Government, on the front lines, cant wait
until 2008!
Growing Threat of Illegal Disposal
Demand for recycling solutions is growing.
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Do citizens want recycling options? If you
offer, they will come
Hennepin County Consumer Electronics Program
History
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Not Just a Metro Problem...
E-waste Collected in Duluth, Mn
E-waste ending up in China
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Proposed Language For Resolutions and Legislative
Platforms

• agency / organization supports legislation
  regarding management of cathode ray tubes (CRTs)
  that incorporates manufacturer responsibility,
  reliable and convenient collection options,
  responsible recycling of CRTs, a mechanism to
  address the backlog of CRTs, and a preference for
  advance recycling fees without relying on local
  government for management of CRTs, effective July
  1, 2005.