Extended Producer Responsibility and the E-Waste Problem

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A growing number of companies are taking on greater levels of responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products -- from point of manufacturing through to end of the life recycling. E-waste recycling is taking off, but obstacles remain to its widespread practice in North America.

The practice of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is picking up steam, most notably in the information technology industry. A growing number of companies are taking on greater levels of responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products -- from point of manufacturing through to end of the life recycling. E-waste recycling is taking off, but obstacles remain to its widespread practice in North America.

The E-Waste Problem

Personal electronics and information technology companies are driven by the powerful incentive of market demand to produce newer consumer products and newer equipment , which in turn has made e-waste the fastest growing category of waste in many countries.

It is estimated that in the US alone as many as 40 million personal computers become obsolete every year. But PCs are just one product. If all sources of e-waste are considered, the total global amount could be as high as 50 million tons a year, according to the U.N.

Less than 20 percent of the e-waste in markets is marked for recycling; the rest ends up in landfills (including dumping sites in developing world nations where environmental controls may be less stringent), or left in storage. Of the goods that do make it to the recycling process, 80 percent get shipped to developing countries such as China, India and several in Africa, where much of the waste is scavenged by the poor who make a living by extracting valuable metals and components for cash.

The environmental problems resulting from e-waste disposal are three fold. First, e-waste takes up a significant amount of space in already crowded landfills and persists for centuries. Second, simply discarding e-waste is a tremendous waste of resources that can be reused.

Finally, discarded computers, mobile phones, routers and other equipment contain numerous toxic materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants and polychlorinated biphenyls -- to name a few. These materials can impact the health of both developed and developing populations.

Emergence of E-Waste Recycling

Aside from the environmental and health benefits of diverting consumer electronics from waste streams, the potential business benefits of EPR are significant. A growing number of companies are beginning to realize the benefits of fostering stronger bonds with their increasingly environmentally-conscious customers, as well as reducing manufacturing and waste management costs.

PC maker Dell promotes refurbishing and reusing its products as an alternative to recycling them. The benefits are twofold: the lifecycle of refurbished products is longer, and the day that Dell must manage the collection, sorting and recycling of them at their end of life, is pushed out. Dell also forged a partnership with Goodwill to collect and either resell or recycle used machines.

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