[GRRN] When TV's die

From: RecycleWorlds (anderson@msn.fullfeed.com)
Date: Fri Jul 14 2000 - 10:18:41 EDT

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    Today's Wall Street Journal has an article about where tv's go to die ("As Old Electronics
    Pile Up, Some States Crack Down", p. B1) or http://interactive.wsj.com.

    Here are some excerpts to avoid copyright blah blah blahs.

                         On the third floor of an 84-year-old downtown
                       warehouse here, two dozen workers wielding hammers and drills are
                       ripping apart television sets. After reducing the sets to rubble, they
    sort
                       wires, plastic, wood and circuit boards. "We run it like a TV-repair
    shop in
                       reverse," says one of the workers, Yusuf Mustafaa.
                       The methodical destruction is one way of dealing with an increasingly
                       difficult -- and potentially dangerous -- problem: the nation's
    mounting pile
                       of electronics trash.
                       With sales of TVs, wireless phones, computers and monitors at record
                       levels, consumers are junking their outmoded models by the carload --
                       replete with harmful metals, such as nickel in batteries and lead in TV
                       tubes. The refuse is expected to grow in this decade as consumers
    replace
                       generations of televisions with new digital models.
                       Keeping the cast-off electronics out of landfills is a slow and costly
    process
                       that hasn't yet won widespread support, but environmentalists and
                       regulators have been making some progress. In April, Massachusetts
                       banned public disposal of TVs and computer screens, urging residents to
                       take advantage of an ad hoc network of charities and recyclers. Florida
                       and Connecticut are considering the same thing. Japan and some European
                       nations also regulate the disposal of electronic goods.
                       Some parts of Minnesota have been recyling TVs for years. But the state
                       hasn't imposed such a ban on disposal, officials say, because it
    doesn't
                       want to adopt a statewide regulation without an economical process that
                       entices manufacturers and waste companies to share costs. "No single
    one
                       of us is going to take on this burden alone," says Sherry Enzler,
    director of
                       the state's Office of Environmental Assistance.
                        ...

                       For other states, the first hurdle is just getting the TVs to a central
    spot.
                       The nation's largest TV-recycling company, Environcycle Inc. of
    Hallstead,
                       Pa., gets most of its sets from the junk piles of TV manufacturers.
    Just
                       10% comes from community collections, says Vice President Greg
                       Voorhees, although he expects that to grow as more states impose limits
                       on dumping.
                             ...

    ____________________________________
    Peter Anderson
    RecycleWorlds Consulting
    4513 Vernon Blvd. Ste. 15
    Madison, WI 53705-4964
    Phone:(608) 231-1100/Fax: (608) 233-0011
    E-mail:recycle@msn.fullfeed.com



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