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E-Waste and RecyclingProgrammatic Responsibilities
Bud Rizer, Ed. D.
Executive Director
National Cristina Foundation
LINKING LIFE TO ITS PROMISE3
LINKING LIFE TO ITS PROMISE4
History of NCF
• “Technology coming out of its first place of use to make a significant difference in people’s lives.”
• “Taking technology from a place where it has little value to a location where its value is incalculable.”
LINKING LIFE TO ITS PROMISE5
National Cristina FoundationRe-Use Model
Responsible Re-Use and Recycling
LINKING LIFE TO ITS PROMISE6
Our Shared Responsibility
Assuring that no computer or other electronics that go out of their first place of use should ever be wasted but are reused to make an important difference in people’s lives
And when they come to the end of their useful life, to assure that they are disposed of in environmentally friendly ways
LINKING LIFE TO ITS PROMISE7
Obligations of Organizations Who Foster Re-Use
• Describe policies• Identify e-waste disposal resources• Train partners regarding responsible
re-use practices
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NCF Policies• Responsible Reuse Evaluate where equipment is
classified within its lifecycle, then determine most appropriate disposition for such
• Responsible Recycling Evaluate status of electronic equipment after reuse or consideration for reuse and determine most appropriate method of disposal.
LINKING LIFE TO ITS PROMISE9
Award of Property Document
• “Your organization hereby agrees to remove any donor company asset tags or other identification from all donated equipment. Furthermore, your organization agrees to dispose of any unwanted technology, either at the time of acquisition or later, according to your applicable State Environmental Protection Agency regulations.”
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Award of Property –cont’.
• “Your organization agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless NCF and its donors from and against any and all liability and/or expense for any remedial or mediation action under: (i) the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. sec. 9601 et seq.; (ii) the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCLA), 42 U.S.C. sec. 6901 et seq.; (iii) any similar Federal, State or local law arising from the disposition of materials obtained through this Agreement and the NCF donation program; or (iv) for any other applicable Federal, State or local law.”
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Resource Information
• www.cristina.org under “e-waste disposal”
• www.cristinanetwork.org under “resources”
CompTIAComputing Technology Industry Association
Breakaway 2009 Conference
August 14, 2009
Sample of Survey Responses
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Trends Affecting Electronics Recycling• Economics
– Decline in Commodity Prices– Decline in Service Demand– Capital and Credit Availability
• Export Issues and Bad Actors
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Current State Recycling Laws
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Industry Take-Back Programs Today• Manufacturers
– Apple– Cannon– Dell– Epson HP– IBM– Lenovo Lexmark– Nokia– Samsung– Sony– Toshiba
• Retailers– Best Buy– Costco– Office Depot– Staples
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Establishing a Baseline: Knowledge of Environmental Regulations
Very Knowledgeable
Somewhat Knowledgeable
Not Knowledgeable
Source: CompTIA survey of IT service providers | Base = 64 companies
28% of firms use an external resource to help manage WEEE/RoHS compliance.
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Top 5 Green IT Service Offerings
51%
51%
49%
61%
65%
14%
16%
20%
12%
12%
Parts Harvesting Services / Salvage for Resale
B2B / SMB Solutions for End-of-Life Product
Certificates of Destruction & Services
De-Installation Services
Data Destruction Services (Data Wiping)
Currently offer
Asset recovery, trade-in programs, donations, and obsolescence processing also notable offerings for some firms.
Plan to offer within 2 years
Source: CompTIA survey of IT service providers | Base = 51 companies
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Many of Your Customers Formalizing Green Practices
24%36%
30%
10%
Comprehensive green strategy
No formal strategy, but engage in some
green practices
Partial green strategy
No strategy, no green practices
• 42% expect to have a comprehensive green policy within 2 years.
• 21% currently have a green compliance officer; 35% moving in that direction.
• 35% rank green in the upper half of priorities in their organizations; 32% place it in the middle.
• 36% follow news about green IT on a frequent basis; 46% occasionally.
• 19% have budget allocated for green IT initiatives; 35% moving in that direction.
Source: CompTIA survey of IT professionals | Base = 400
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Challenge: You are responsible• Various state regulations include sales restrictions,
landfill bans, and export control.
Stay informed – regulations vary• Some states restrict sale of non-registered, non-
approved, or non-branded product.• You could be fined for product found in a landfill.• Fines and penalties have been assessed for
product found abandoned in storage.• New laws address data wiping too
Response
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Summary• Promoters of technology re-use must assume the
additional role of e-waste educator.• The e-waste stream is still under development,
but will continue to become a critical element of the re-use world.
• We are all in the same boat – manufacturers, retailers, initial users and re-users of technology, thus any decisions made must reflect consideration of the entire process, not just an isolated component.
