E-Waste and Recycling Programmatic Responsibilities

Bud Rizer, Ed. D.

Executive Director National Cristina Foundation

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4 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 PROMISE

National Cristina Foundation Re-Use Model 5

Responsible Re-Use and Recycling

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6 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

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7 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.

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9 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.” LINKING LIFE TO ITS PROMISE

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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.” LINKING LIFE TO ITS PROMISE

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Resource Information

• www.cristina.org

under “e-waste disposal” • www.cristinanetwork.org

under “resources”

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CompTIA Computing Technology Industry Association

Breakaway 2009 Conference August 14, 2009 Sample of Survey Responses

Trends Affecting Electronics Recycling

• Economics – Decline in Commodity Prices – Decline in Service Demand – Capital and Credit Availability • Export Issues and Bad Actors 13

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 15

Establishing a Baseline: Knowledge of Environmental Regulations Not Knowledgeable Somewhat Knowledgeable Very Knowledgeable

28% of firms use an external resource to help manage WEEE/RoHS compliance.

Source: CompTIA survey of IT service providers | Base = 64 companies 16

Top 5 Green IT Service Offerings

Data Destruction Services (Data Wiping)

Currently offer

65%

Plan to offer within 2 years

12% De-Installation Services 61% 12% Certificates of Destruction & Services 49% 20% B2B / SMB Solutions for End-of-Life Product Parts Harvesting Services / Salvage for Resale Asset recovery, trade-in programs, donations, and obsolescence processing also notable offerings for some firms.

Source: CompTIA survey of IT service providers | Base = 51 companies 51% 51% 16% 14% 17

Many of Your Customers Formalizing Green Practices

Comprehensive green strategy 24% No strategy , no green practices 10% 30% Partial green strategy 36% • 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.

No formal strategy, but engage in some green practices Source: CompTIA survey of IT professionals | Base = 400 18

Challenge: You are responsible

• Various state regulations include sales restrictions, landfill bans, and export control.

Response

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 19

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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.

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