Many Americans are recycling more, but as a nation we’re also creating more trash than ever before. That’s because we’re consuming more. For instance, Americans buy nearly thirty million new computer systems a year. Cities and states are beginning to worry about what will happen to all the plastic, steel, lead, and heavy metals in electronics products as they reach the end of their useful lives. An experimental program in Minnesota points to some answers. It also highlights the broader issue of who’s responsible for the products we use, and eventually want to throw away. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:
Transcript
Many Americans are recycling more, but as a nation we’re also creating more trash than ever before. That’s
because we’re consuming more. For instance, Americans buy nearly thirty million new computer systems a
year.
(Insert your state’s information here:)
In 1998, about 350,000 computers became obsolete in Minnesota alone
In 1998, about 386,000 computers became obsolete in Wisconsin alone.
In 1998, about 894,000 computers became obsolete in Illinois alone.
In 1998, about 762,000 computers became obsolete in Michigan alone.
In 1998, about 832,000 computers became obsolete in Ohio alone.
In 1998, about 1.3 million computers became obsolete in New York alone.
In 1998, about 436,000 computers became obsolete in Indiana alone.
Cities and states are beginning to worry about what will happen to all the plastic, steel, lead, and heavy metals in electronics products as they reach the end of their useful lives. An experimental program in
Minnesota points to some answers. It also highlights the broader issue of who’s responsible for the products we use, and eventually want to throw away. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Stephanie Hemphill reports:
It’s called product stewardship, and it means that everyone involved in producing, selling or using a product – from the manufacturer to the consumer – shares responsibility for that product’s environmental and economic impacts – including what to do with it when it’s not wanted anymore.
The first step is to learn more about the life cycle of a product, especially the end of its life.
Tony Hinault is learning a lot about computers as he coordinates a pilot electronics recycling effort at the Minnesota Office of Environmental
Assistance. He says the office tackled electronic equipment first, because it generally contains such things as heavy metals and toxic chemicals. So if electrical equipment is disposed of improperly it can cause serious toxic pollution.
“What we really wanted to do was to create an infrastructure to bring down the costs of managing this to the bare minimum and at the same time to set
up a system to allow for the private sector to manage the materials with
the least government participation as possible.”
Hinault’s office teamed up with Sony, Panasonic, and the American Plastics
Council to collect and recycle electronics products from homes all over
Minnesota for three months last year. They kept careful records of
collection and processing costs, and are making a detailed analysis of the
materials recovered from the 700 tons of products they collected.
(Sound of disassembly plant)
All 700 tons were brought here to the processing plant of Asset
Recovery Group, a division of the giant waste firm, Waste Management. The company recycles equipment for businesses around the state.
Taking an old computer apart for recycling is labor-intensive. Cases,
screens and picture tubes are thrown in separate bins. Wireboards, cords,
everything has to be sorted. And depending on the age of the product, most
of the components have little value. For instance, older computers and TVs
are often made from laminated plastic, which is more difficult to recycle
than a single plastic product. Cathode ray tubes, though, do have a little value. They are typically smelted to collect the lead they contain. But if
they’re recycled to create new CRTs, it’s cheaper than starting from scratch.
The two main goals of this whole process are to find a better way to make
things, and, says Tony Hinault, pushing manufacturers to make their
products easier to recycle.
“By taking a few simple steps in design and manufacture without adding cost,
possibly by reducing cost, they can increase the residual value of the
product when nobody wants it anymore and it gets into the recycling loop.”
Doug Smith, environmental director at Sony, says that’s already happening.
“We used to use screws, glue, we molded different types of plastic into
shells. And that all added extra manufacturing and assembly steps. If you
reduce assembly steps and time, you end up with a product that’s more
easily disassembled.”
And one that’s cheaper to make, as well. And that’s what’s motivating
manufacturers, Smith says, not government mandates.
Collecting and transporting the products amounted to 80% of the total
cost of handling them, so partners in the pilot program say creating
efficiencies in those operations will be critical to development of the
recycling industry.
Other states are looking forward to the results of Minnesota’s experiment.
Massachusetts recently banned CRTs from the trash. A tax pays for collection programs there. But Hinault says a survey conducted during
Minnesota’s program showed people believe manufacturers and consumers share
responsibility for managing unwanted products.
“They expect the manufacturers to step up to the plate, not government.
They want government to shepherd a solution but not to pay $15-20 per
television to make sure they get recycled properly.”
Results of the study will be available on the web at the end of August.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Stephanie Hemphill.