CEA Applauds Fed Recycling Efforts

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 7/20/2011

Arlington, Va. - The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is applauding efforts on electronics stewardship and CE recycling by the federal government and individual CE companies.

CEA cited the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) along with consumer electronics companies for their work on recycling.  

Dell, Sprint and Sony issued a similar statement earlier today and LG Electronics announced a two-day eCycling event it is co-sponsoring to take place in Oklahoma later this month.

"Electronics recycling is a national problem that deserves a national solution. Today's announcement from EPA, GSA and CEQ echoes the principles our industry laid out this spring with the eCycling Leadership Initiative," said Walter Alcorn, CEA environmental affairs and industry sustainability VP.

The eCycling Leadership Initiative, an industry-led effort launched in April to recycle 1 billion pounds of electronics annually by 2016, is coordinated by CEA and aims to bolster consumer education of eCycling and increase the number of recycling locations and infrastructure needed to reach the annual target.

Additionally, the initiative is committed to transparency and measurement, as well as supporting the voluntary implementation of recycler certification systems so that the 1 billion pounds of electronics is recycled in third-party certified facilities. In fact, all the companies who helped develop the eCycling Leadership Initiative use third-party certified recyclers or ones pursuing certification, and the initiative is committed to practices prohibiting the use of recyclers and downstream processors that dump end-of-life electronics in developing nations.

CEA's Alcorn said the industry still wants "to develop a national approach to eCycling that replaces the patchwork of costly and confusing state regulations."