On November 11th, 2009, at the I-Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign, IL, Willie Cade gave a lecture titled, “The Truth, Tragedy, and Transformation of E-Waste”.

Read the full story at Greener Computing.

We follow e-waste issues pretty closely here, because despite green IT’s huge potential for game-changing innovation, issues around the disposal of old gadgets represent the industry’s seamy underbelly.

So it’s always interesting when news about e-waste makes one of its occasional splashes into the news; when, after weeks of total or near silence about e-waste issues, you get a slew of headlines on the subject.

That’s been happening for the past week or so around these parts, as bad news crops up from a number of corners about e-waste, with just a small taste of some good news about how organizations are addressing it.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

In the past week, the company that aims to eliminate mountains of e-waste and bring energy efficient power supplies to gadget-owners around the world has made several big steps forward.

Read the full story in Scientific American.

Gadget makers often rely on piezoelectricity — the ability that some solids have to produce voltage when pressure is applied to them — to power tiny embedded systems, such as a BlackBerry Storm 2’s touch screen or a car’s airbag sensor. Whereas lead-based compounds typically have the greatest piezoelectric potential, the heavy metal has fallen out of favor as device-makers push to eliminate it from all electronics in an attempt to reduce toxic waste.

Read the full post at the Consumer Reports Electronics blog.

With early Black-Friday deals abounding, maybe you’re planning on getting some sleek, new electronic item to replace an old clunker. And you’re probably planning on heaving that old computer, TV, printer, or whatever to the curb, right? Do us all a favor and recycle it.

Read the full story in the Daily Illini.

Willie Cade, founder of PC Rebuilders and Recyclers, spoke at the I Hotel and Conference Center on Wednesday to inform people about e-waste and what can be done to collect and reuse it.

Cade emphasized the importance of reusing e–waste, or discarded programmable electric devices, to get their full potential. He compared a horseless carriage to a Ferrari to create a visual image for the group of about 200 attendants.

Read the full story in the New York Daily News.

As our lives become filled with more gadgets, New Yorkers are being confronted with a growing problem: What to do with old electronics that, at least in the view of their owners, are garbage?

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

LG Electronics yesterday announced a new partnership with Waste Management that aims to keep thousands of now-outdated displays out of landfills.

The two firms are teaming up to recycle televisions and computer monitors from hundreds of hotels around the country, as the lodging industry embraces flat-panel and high-definition televisions for guestrooms; the two companies expect to collect and responsibly recycle thousands of displays during the first year of the partnership alone.

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

Government officials from across the country on Nov. 5 called on the electronics industry to withdraw its lawsuit against the New York City e-waste recycling law, calling the lawsuit a challenge to the rights of states and cities to pass producer responsibility laws that hold manufacturers accountable for their products.

In a letter to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC), who filed the lawsuit, state and local government representatives from 18 states expressed their continued support for laws that give the electronics manufacturers responsibility for financing effective takeback services for all the products they are selling in those states.

Read the full story in GreenerComputing.

We cover electronic waste quite often around these parts, and occasionally there’s even some good news to report, for example news about e-waste achievements from companies like Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

But when it comes to policy stories — news about legislative or regulatory news to manage the sheer amount of e-waste headed toward landfills or export and dismantling — the news either comes from other countries (China or the European Union) or individual U.S. state and regions: Indiana, Wisconsin, or Oregon and Washington State.

A new study in the latest issue of Science Magazine aims to lay out the scattered landscape of e-waste regulation in the U.S. “The Electronics Revolution: From E-Wonderland to E-Wasteland,” by researchers at the Universities of California at Irvine and Davis, finds that a lack of action on the federal level in the United States has created this patchwork.

Read the full story at Ars Technica.

The United States Senate has a bill in consideration to deal with the growing amount of electronic waste, but it may not be enough.

Via Docuticker.

Managing Electronic Waste: Issues with Exporting E-Waste (PDF)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists/Secrecy News)

Although there may be limited data regarding how e-waste is managed, the consequences of export to countries that manage it improperly are becoming increasingly evident. In particular, various reports and studies (by the mainstream media, environmental organizations, and university researchers) have found primitive waste management practices in India and various countries in Africa and Asia. Operations in Guiyu in the Shantou region of China have gained particular attention. Observed recycling operations involve burning the plastic coverings of materials to extract metals for scrap, openly burning circuit boards to remove solder or soaking them in acid baths to strip them for gold or other metals. Acid baths are then dumped into surface water. Among other impacts to those areas have been elevated blood lead levels in children and soil and water contaminated with heavy metals.

The impacts associated with e-waste exports have led to concerns from environmental organizations, members of the public, and some Members of Congress.

Luther, Linda (2009) Managing Electronic Waste: Issues with Exporting E-Waste (October 7, 2009). Washington, DC : Congressional Research Service.

Summary: Electronic waste (e-waste) is a term that is used loosely to refer to obsolete, broken, or irreparable electronic devices like televisions, computer central processing units (CPUs), computer monitors (flat screen and cathode ray tubes), laptops, printers, scanners, and associated wiring. E-waste has become a concern in the United States due to the high volumes in which it is generated, the hazardous constituents it often contains (such as lead, mercury, and chromium), and the lack of regulations applicable to its disposal or recycling. Under most circumstances, e-waste can legally be disposed of in a municipal solid waste landfill or recycled with few environmental regulatory requirements. Concerns about e-waste landfill disposal have led federal and state environmental agencies to encourage recycling. To date, 19 states have implemented some form of mandatory e-waste recycling program. These state requirements, mixed with increased consumer awareness regarding potential problems with landfilling e-waste, have led to an increase in recycling. With that increase have come new questions about e-waste management. Instead of questions only about the potential impacts associated with e-waste disposal, questions have arisen regarding the potential danger associated with e-waste recycling—particularly when recycling involves the export of e-waste to developing countries where there are few requirements to protect workers or the environment. Answering questions about both e-waste disposal and recycling involves a host of challenges. For example, little information is available to allow a complete assessment of how e-waste ultimately managed. General estimates have been made about the management of cathode ray tubes (CRTs, the only devices where disposal is federally regulated), but little reliable information is available regarding other categories of e-waste. For example, accurate data regarding how much is generated, how it is managed (through disposal or recycling), and where it is processed (either domestically or abroad) are largely unknown. Further, little information is available regarding the total amount of functioning electronics exported to developing countries for legitimate reuse. What is known is that e-waste recycling involves complex processes and it is more costly to recycle e-waste in the United States, where there is a limited recycling infrastructure. It also is known that most consumer electronics manufacturers (who provide the market for material recovery from recycled electronics) have moved overseas. As a result, the majority of e-waste collected for recycling (either for reuse or recycling) appears to be exported for processing. Although there may be limited data regarding how e-waste is managed, the consequences of export to countries that manage it improperly are becoming increasingly evident. In particular, various reports and studies (by the mainstream media, environmental organizations, and university researchers) have found primitive waste management practices in India and various countries in Africa and Asia. Operations in Guiyu in the Shantou region of China have gained particular attention. Observed recycling operations involve burning the plastic coverings of materials to extract metals for scrap, openly burning circuit boards to remove solder or soaking them in acid baths to strip them for gold or other metals. Acid baths are then dumped into surface water. Among other impacts to those areas have been elevated blood lead levels in children and soil and water contaminated with heavy metals. The impacts associated with e-waste exports have led to concerns from environmental organizations, members of the public, and some Members of Congress.

Read the full story at Wisconsin Radio News.

Legislation designed to keep old TVs and computers out of landfills is on its way to the governor’s desk.

The Senate on Tuesday gave final approval to the bill, which requires electronics manufacturers to take a more active role in recycling their old products. Currently, Dan Kohler of Wisconsin Environment says many of those end up in landfills, with an estimated 10,000 tons worth of computer monitors and 24,000 tons of old televisions being dumped each year in the state.

Read the full story in ComputerWorld.

Environmental groups like the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, among others, have been in the news lately, chiding gadget makers in general and Apple in particular for bad environmental policies. They’re bringing attention to the growing mountains of toxic PCs, cell phones, iPods and other electronics in landfills and pushing governments for “green” regulation.

This problem is real, and I applaud these and dozens of other organizations that are working to make a difference. But their prescriptions for consumer action — what they want you and me to do about e-waste — is actually bad for the environment. I’ll tell you why in a minute. I’ll also outline a superior alternative to the recycling they are demanding. But first, let’s review the problem.

Via GreenBiz.

This report outlines the U.S. EPA’s list of best practices for companies that dispose of unwanted electronics; these guidelines can also be used as a procurement tool for companies seeking environmentally friendly electronics recyclers.

From the introduction to the report:

Customers want a simple means of verifying that an electronics recycling company is forthright and responsible about how it manages used and end-of-life electronic equipment. At the same time, responsible electronics recyclers want a means of highlighting their values and performance to customers.

The purpose of this document is to take a first step in addressing this situation –- to develop a commonly accepted set of R2 practices for the electronics recycling industry. Accredited certification programs — by verifying an electronics recycler adheres to these R2 practices — will enable customers to make better informed decisions and have increased confidence that their end-of-life electronic equipment will be dealt with in a responsible manner.

The R2 practices set forth herein are not legal requirements and do not replace electronics recyclers’ legal obligations. Electronics recyclers that adhere to this set of R2 practices are doing so on a voluntary basis. If a requirement of this document conflicts with an applicable legal requirement, the recycler must adhere to the legal requirement.

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

In no segment of the electronics industry is the new supplanting the old faster than for boob tubes. Last year, 91 percent of the 37 million TVs sold in the United States had flat screens, according to the market research firm DisplaySearch. The number of tube TVs sold has fallen spectacularly, from 15.6 million in 2006 to 3.1 million last year. Asking a Best Buy salesman where the tube TVs are is a fail-safe way to induce giggles. The chain doesn’t sell them anymore.

As new TVs enter the home, many people hide the old ones in basements, garages or closets. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 99 million TVs were stored this way two years ago. But many TVs are simply tossed. In 2007, 27 million units were discarded, and 77 percent of them were tossed out with the trash (most of the rest are recycled).

Responding to potential landfill contamination, 18 states, including Virginia and Maryland, require manufacturers to help pay for electronics recycling. Montgomery County’s recycling program took in 122 tons of TVs in July, more than double the load in July of last year.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

Four regional Australian councils have adopted a ban on sending electronic waste to landfill, in the hopes that the move will force the federal government to finalize a national recycling scheme.

The four councils — Mosman, Manly, Warringa and Pittwater, which together cover all of Syndey’s northern beaches — have enacted a no-landfill policy effective in January 2010, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

This new fact sheet from U.S. EPA is targeted at businesses that are disposing of equipment containing hazardous waste (e.g. computer equipment). The brochure gives a list of questions to ask potential recyclers before sending outdated equipment to them.

The Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI), hosted by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), is pleased to announce the availability of its online “Ask an Expert” service for the submission of questions related to electronics and their environmental impacts.

Questions related to electronic waste issues, sustainable electronics design, improving electronics manufacturing processes and related topics can be submitted via an online form available at http://www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu/services/askexpert.cfm. SEI staff members will provide one hour of free Internet and/or literature searching related to your sustainable electronics question. Also provided is input from ISTC staff scientists and/or referrals to external contacts for further information on technical questions. Responses can be expected within a week (usually within 1-2 business days). Citizens, organizations, government agencies, businesses, non-profit groups, and academic institutions are all invited to use this free service.

The responses obtained from the Ask an Expert service are meant for informational purposes only and should not be construed as endorsements by SEI, ISTC or any affiliated organization. Responses are also meant to be starting points for inquirers rather than definitive answers, advice or prescriptions for action. Inquirers must draw their own conclusions based upon the information provided.

In the near future, questions and answers received via this service will be archived and searchable on the SEI web site, www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu. An extensive collection of resources is also under development for the web site and archived Ask an Expert questions and answers will be integrated into relevant resource collections.

According to the U.S. EPA, Americans own nearly three billion electronic products and continually purchase new ones to replace those deemed “obsolete,” even though about two-thirds of the devices are still in working order. As designers, manufacturers and the general public are becoming more aware and concerned about this issue, SEI’s Ask an Expert service will be one way to address concerns and assist in more sustainable practices.

SEI is a consortium dedicated to the development and implementation of a more sustainable system for designing, producing, remanufacturing, and recycling electronic devices. Members of the consortium include academia, non-profit organizations, government agencies, manufacturers, designers, refurbishers, and recyclers. Specific elements of the SEI include programs for research, education, data management, and technical assistance. SEI conducts collaborative research; facilitates networking and information exchange among participants; promotes technology diffusion via demonstration projects; and provides forums for the discussion of policy and legislation.

For more information on SEI, visit www.sustainelectronics.illinois.edu or contact Dr. Tim Lindsey, Associate Director of ISTC, at 217-333-8955 or tlindsey@istc.illinois.edu. For more information on the Ask an Expert service contact Laura Barnes, ISTC librarian at 217-333-8957 or lbarnes@istc.illinois.edu.

ISTC is a unit of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.

Following on the news last week that electronics exported from the U.S. and other industrial countries may be reused more often than previously thought, I got a heads-up about a new project that helps to minimize the impact of those exported products through a novel offset method.

The E-Waste Foundation, based in the Netherlands, wants to lower the amount of potentially toxic e-waste that ends up in Africa by letting companies pay a fee that will support shipping end-of-life electronics from Africa to Europe, where it can be more safely dismantled.

Read the full story in Waste & Recycling News.

Call2Recycle, a rechargeable battery recycling program, says it is being recognized as an “e-Steward” by the Basel Action Network.

Read the full story in Greener Computing.

Collective concern from businesses, municipalities, environmentalists and manufacturers over the hazards of e-waste has led to a search for ways to reduce its environmental impact. With a greater need for programs that handle collection and disposal of used electronics products in a way that is safest for the environment, product stewardship is emerging as a viable and cost-efficient strategy for doing so, placing the responsibility for a product’s proper disposal on the shoulders of the company that makes or sells the product, or even upon the purchaser. The concept can be applied to a range of products, from paints and prescription medication to batteries and computers.

Read the full story in Waste Age.

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., have introduced legislation to increase the recycling of electronics and to reduce the use of hazardous materials in the products.

The Electronic Device Recycling Research and Development Act “would provide research grants to find ways to deal with the growing amount of e-waste, much of which contains hazardous materials and should not be dumped into landfills,” says a press release from Klobuchar’s office.

Read the full story in Scientific American.

Most people assume that their trash ends up in a landfill somewhere far away (if they think about this at all). But growing concern over the environmental impact of waste—discarded electronics, in particular—has prompted a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) to take a high-tech approach to studying exactly what people are tossing out and where those items are ending up.

Read the full story in Emory Report.

Printers, space heaters and small refrigerators were among some of the most frequently donated electric appliances collected in May as part of an Emory energy savings “Electronics Roundup” campaign.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

An announcement from the University of York’s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence offers a highly innovative potential use for e-waste, one that also brings a cradle-to-cradle mindset to disposing of technology.

Researchers at the university’s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence have found a way to recover a chemical that’s widely used in LCD displays and put it to use in medicine.

From the website:

Apple will recycle your school’s old, unwanted Mac computers, PCs, and qualifying peripherals from any manufacturer for free. There’s no purchase required and all accredited K-12 and higher education institutions with at least 25 pieces of recyclables are eligible to participate. Just register in time, follow the steps, and we’ll do the rest.

How the recycling works

To take advantage of this opportunity, you’ll need to register by July 31, 2009. All products must be packaged according to the instructions and collected by August 31, 2009. Remember, you must recycle a minimum of 25 pieces (computers, printer, or displays)  in order to participate.

In addition to the 25 pieces, we accept all brands of the following equipment: computers, monitors, laptops, printers, fax machines, scanners, desktop-size copy machines, CD drives, hard drives, TVs, VCRs, projectors, overhead projectors, networking equipment, cables, keyboards, and mice.

Read the full story in the New York Times.

There is now somewhere to take some of the 99.1 million television sets that sit unused in closets and basements.

Read the full story at GreenerDesign.

The European Commission (EC) announced today that 10 mobile phone manufacturers and chip producers, including Apple, have signed up to an initiative designed to cut down on electronic waste and improve energy efficiency through the production of standardized mobile phone chargers.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

A series of white papers released by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) offer OEMs a guide to the environmental requirements and restrictions for different markets around the globe.

The four papers — one each for North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe — offer region-specific overviews of the regulations and requirements in place for companies that manufacture, distribute or dispose of electronics in those regions.

Read the full story from CBS5 (San Francisco).

A CBS 5 investigation which uncovered a huge loophole into California’s e-waste recycling laws is prompting enforcement action in a neighboring state.

California’s recycling rules are so strict that we send our electronic waste across state borders. CBS 5 Investigates found a huge pile of glass from California’s TVs and monitors in Arizona, a pile that environmental experts said contained potential environmental hazards. Now officials in Arizona agree.

Read the full story in Scientific American.

Millions of printed circuit boards from discarded electronics are tossed into landfills every year. In addition to the volume of waste, the material can leach chemicals into the soil. As an alternative, researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China are finding various ways to reuse the panels, including as an additive in asphalt.

Read the full story from GreenerComputing.

Headlines abound with stories of branded technology being fished out of rivers and landfills in developing nations leaking toxic metals into the water supply. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates roughly 400,000 tons of e-waste goes to recyclers every year, and that up to 80 percent of the materials sorted for recycling end up in operations in China, India, Southeast Asia and West Africa where it is disassembled and burned or dumped.

But it doesn’t have to be that way, declares Mark Newton, the senior manager of environmental sustainability at Dell Computers, the computer manufacturing giant based in Round Rock, Texas.

After tomorrow, June 12, 2009 all full power television stations will only broadcast in digital, over-the-air signals. EPA encourages all U.S. citizens who own an analog TV set and who receive free broadcasts (via rabbit ears or a roof-top antenna) to extend the life of their TV by subscribing to a paid TV service or connecting it to a converter box. Energy Star-qualified digital converter boxes are available for purchase.

For consumers who choose to buy a new TV, EPA recommends purchasing Energy Star-qualified sets. EPA also encourages consumers to recycle their unwanted TVs, which recovers valuable materials from the circuit boards, metal wiring, leaded glass, and plastics.

Last year Americans disposed of more than 20 million TVs, which represents a lost opportunity to conserve natural resources such as copper and iron.

Consumers who are interested in recycling their old TVs can contact their local household hazardous waste collection and recycling program to find out whether they will be sponsoring an upcoming recycling event.

EPA is working through its Plug-In To eCycling program to promote the environmental benefits of recycling and provide the public with information on safely reusing and recycling obsolete electronics products, including televisions, computers, and cell phones. Plug-In To eCycling is a partnership between EPA and electronic manufacturers and retailers to offer consumers more opportunities to donate or recycle their used electronics.

More information on the digital TV transition:
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/tv-convert.htm

More information on where to recycle a TV:
http://www.epa.gov/waste/conserve/materials/ecycling/tv-challenge.htm

More information on Plug-In To eCycling: http://epa.gov/plug-in

Frontline investigation of e-waste dumping in Ghana and other developing countries.

Read the full story in the Lakeland Ledger.

Well, now that the switch to digital television has taken place, the question arises: What, besides use it for a doorstop, does one do with the old, faithful analog television if one didn’t buy a converter box for it, or simply decided to upgrade to a new set?

You can still buy the converter box, of course, and continue to use the television. But there are other things to do with the old television other than leave it curbside to become more electronic waste.

Read the full story in Waste & Recycling News.

LGE MobileComm USA, a unit of LG Electronics Inc., is teaming up with San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit to provide mobile phone recycling.

Read the full story at Edie.net.

Raids on two sites in east London and Essex have stopped the possible illegal export of electrical waste, according to police.

Read the full story from 60 Minutes (from November 2008).

60 Minutes is going to take you to one of the most toxic places on Earth – a place government officials and gangsters don’t want you to see. It’s a town in China where you can’t breathe the air or drink the water, a town where the blood of the children is laced with lead.

It’s worth risking a visit because much of the poison is coming out of the homes, schools and offices of America. This is a story about recycling – about how your best intentions to be green can be channeled into an underground sewer that flows from the United States and into the wasteland.

Read the full story in Waste & Recycling News.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will have on his desk a bill requiring television manufacturers to provide Texas residents with free and convenient recycling for their old units.

Read the full story in Time (from January).

If you’re like some 80% of Americans, you’ll simply toss your obsolete gizmos into the trash. After all, that Jurassic 15-in. (38 cm) computer monitor doesn’t look as though it’s packing up to 7 lb. (3 kg) of lead. Every day Americans throw out more than 350,000 cell phones and 130,000 computers, making electronic waste the fastest-growing part of the U.S. garbage stream. Improperly disposed of, the lead, mercury and other toxic materials inside e-waste can leak from landfills.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.com.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels last week signed into law the state’s first mandate for electronics recycling.

The signing of H.B. 1589 makes Indiana the 19th state in the country to implement electronics waste regulations in the absence of a federal standard. The Indiana e-waste law forces manufacturers to take responsibility for the collection and recycling of their products.

Manufacturers of video display devices, such as TVs, computer monitors and laptops, must recycle 60 percent by weight of their sales of those products. They are required to register with the state by April 2010 and must include a plan describing how they will meet their recycling targets. They can count the recycling of other electronics, such as printers, keyboards and VCRs, toward their recycling goals. Manufacturers must report their progress at the end of each program year for state review. In the third year, the state will impose penalties for noncompliance.

Display and judging of entries in UIUC’s Sustainable E-Waste Design Competition occurred today on the Quad. I was tremendously impressed with the ingenuity and creativity of the particpants. There were some really innovative projects that not only used materials that would have otherwise been landfilled, but also were functional, useful, and attractive. I don’t envy the judges. They’ll have some tough decisions to make this afternoon.

For more information about the competion, see the competition website. The Daily Illini also ran a story about the contest in their April 2 issue.

Read the full post at Treehugger.

The month of April is usually a good month for recycling since Earth Day sparks some action around saving the planet. The EPA has caught the bug too, and has announced a big cell phone recycling drive in conjunction with major retailers, to last all of next week.

If you have a cell phone sitting in a drawer somewhere, now is a great time for you to turn it in for recycling. During the week of April 6-12, the EPA is pushing people to send in their cell phones, and has teamed up with AT&T, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless for the drive.

You can contact the local retailer, or Earth911.org to find out where to submit your used cell phone.

If you’re a non-profit looking for low-cost computer equipment or a company looking to discard old electronics, check out TechSoup’s Refurbished Computer Initiative. According to the web site:

TechSoup Stock offers only high-quality computers formerly used by large corporations. These are machines that are typically phased out after two to three years of use and are in very good condition. Each one is loaded with a new operating system and comes with a 90-day swap warranty.

Our donor partners donate their used computers, which are then refurbished by our refurbisher partners. The refurbisher partners also acquire computers from their own sources. TechSoup Stock distributes all of these refurbished computers to qualified nonprofits for a low administrative fee.

To participate in the program, a nonprofit organization must meet the requirements specified in the Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) and must operate in the United States. U.S. public libraries must either have valid 501(c)(3) nonprofit status or be listed in the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) database. For a complete list of requirements, see the RCI program guidelines and restrictions.

Read the full story in USA Today.

Hong Kong intercepted and returned 41 ship containers to U.S. ports this year because they carried tons of illegal electronics waste from the U.S., according to the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department.

By turning the containers away, Hong Kong thwarted attempts by U.S. companies to dump 1.4 million pounds of broken TVs or computer monitors overseas and an estimated 82,000 pounds of lead, a known toxin, in the devices.

But thousands of other shipments probably slipped through, says Jim Puckett, head of the Basel Action Network, or BAN, a three-employee environmental non-profit that over eight years has become a respected watchdog over the rapidly growing electronics recycling industry.

Puckett expects much more e-waste will be exported from the U.S. once the broadcasting industry switches to digital signals on Feb. 17 and millions of households junk their old analog TV sets.

Read the full story in Occupational Health & Safety.

The European Commission decided on Dec. 3 to table a proposed review of the EU Directive on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), which was enacted five years ago to increase the reuse and recycling of the 35-40 pounds of computers, TVs, cell phones, light bulbs, refrigerators, and other cast-off electronic equipment estimated by the EC to be generated annually by each European citizen. Most of the discarded material is waste sent to landfills, but there is pressure both to raise the amount that is recycled and to make manufacturers pay for household collection. Collection costs should be shifted from taxpayers to consumers of the electrical equipment through producers, the EC says.

Read the press release from the Basal Action Network.

The Basel Action Network and the Electronics TakeBack Coalition joined today with 32 electronics recyclers in the United States and Canada to announce that the e-Stewards program, which identifies the most responsible recyclers in North America, is soon to be fully accredited and certified.

The e-Steward Certification will be the continent’s first independently audited and accredited electronic waste recycler certification program. It will forbid the dumping of toxic e-waste in developing countries, local landfills and incinerators; the use of prison labor to process e-waste; and the unauthorized release of private data contained in discarded computers.

Read the full story in BusinessWeek.

Business is booming at Supreme Asset Management & Recovery, one of the nation’s largest recyclers of electronic waste. Inside a cavernous warehouse in the industrial section of Lakewood, N.J., workers in T-shirts grapple with newly arrived truckloads of old computer monitors, keyboards, printers, and TVs: tons of e-waste that contains dangerous lead, mercury, and cadmium. Such major manufacturers as Panasonic and JVC and municipalities like Baltimore County, Md., and Westchester County, N.Y., have paid Supreme to dispose of their digital detritus, relying on the company’s assurances that the work is done safely.

But as the e-waste industry proliferates—some 1,200 mostly tiny companies generated revenue of more than $3 billion last year—it has also become enmeshed in questionable practices that undercut its environmentally friendly image. Next year the volume of e-waste will probably surge. In February, U.S. consumers must switch from analog to digital television service, a move that is expected to result in the mass junking of analog TVs.