RE: [greenyes] Electronic scrap collection opportunities

["Eric Lombardi" <eric@no.address>]

Debby,

You need to talk to Dan Matsch at Eco-Cycle since we have created a
staffed drop-off "Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials" (the CHARM)
which takes e-scrap and other items.  We do charge the public for some
items, and the City of Boulder helps support the project as well.  You
can go to www.ecocycle.org/charm to see a full description.  This
project is two years old and very successful... and the public is using
it a lot!  In 2003 we averaged 650 cars/month, or about 27 cars/day.
Not bad for a community of only 100,000 (although we do get folks from
the County and other towns).

A side note: Eco-Cycle is aware that industry is getting a free ride
when the public and the City pay the price for recycling all these
materials, and our intention is to somehow get the industry to foot a
part of the bill.  We were successful in our first attempt at "local
producer responsibility" by getting our local newspaper to take
financial responsibility for the end-of-life management of the plastic
bags they deliver their paper in.  They are now paying Eco-Cycle a few
thousand dollars per year for their little piece of the CHARM project
that collects and markets their bags to TREX for making plastic lumber.
That's the model we're going to build off of when we figure out how to
approach our local retailers of electronic products.  If anyone has any
good ideas on how we can convince them to financially support our
efforts, I'm all ears!

Eric Lombardi
Executive Director
Eco-Cycle, Inc
Boulder, CO
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Debby Kramer [mailto:dkramer@no.address] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 5:48 PM
To: greenyes@no.address
Subject: [greenyes] Electronic scrap collection opportunities

Fellow recyclers,

  I am investigating different methods for collecting more electronic
scrap that would be more convenient for the public and would appreciate
your input.

1. HHW collection
Do you collect electronic scrap at HHW collections? If so, what
percentage and how much (weight)? How are you paying for this (grants,
state/federal funding)?

2. Residential Curbside collection
Do you collect electronic scrap as part of your curbside collection
program (clean ups or on-call or special pickups)? If so, how much? How
are you paying for it (grants, state/federal funding)?

....
Debby Kramer
SBWMA/RethinkWaste Recycling Coordinator
610 Elm St #202
San Carlos, CA 94070
v 650.802.4349
f 650.802.4306
e dkramer@no.address
w www.rethinkwaste.org