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Panel Detail:
Monday, April 24, 2006
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Electronic Waste: A New Industry for a Growing Problem
Speakers:
Jeff Hunts,
Supervisor, Electronic Waste Recycling Program, California Integrated Waste Management Board
Bill Shireman,
President and CEO, The Future 500
David Thompson,
Director, Corporate Environmental Department, Panasonic Corporation of North America
Moderator:
John Shegerian, Managing Partner, President and CEO, Electronic Recyclers LLC
"E-waste -– it’s here, and it’s real," John Shegerian of Electronic Recyclers LLC said, kick-starting the environmentally relevant roundtable session. Last year California's estimated total of legacy electronic waste surpassed the 500 million-pound mark; this year, the state is looking at 10 million pounds of new electronic waste being introduced each month. Shegerian called this the environmental "tipping point" and spoke passionately about the need for action.
Shegerian passed the discussion to Jeff Hunts of the Waste Recycling Program. Hunts, who has been active in E-waste reform, explained the evolution of California's SB-20/50, an incentivised fee program designed to encourage electronic recycling while it creates a statewide fund to cover transportation and processing costs. This program is the nation's first in the electronic field and resulted in $70 million in fee-based state revenues and $30 million of incentive claim payments. The greatest success was in the 70 million pounds of recycled E-waste recovered by the program; Hunts estimates that this will double to 140 million pounds at the end of this year.
The original SB-20 was unique in its fee-based incentive structure, which mimics bottle recycling fees in Maine and Washington. Hunts suggested that problems in execution with these programs have to do with government administration rather than intrinsic flaws. This turned the conversation to a discussion of the ideal regulatory and administrative structure. David Thompson of Panasonic continued the thought by explaining how his company deals with E-waste on the corporate and home consumer levels: Large businesses are cooperative, but private users rarely are willing to take the initiative to recycle electronic waste because of the costs involved. Similar comments around the table provided support for SB-20's fee based structure, possibly with administration driven by a third-party foundation.
Bill Shireman of The Future 500 supported that opinion and then addressed the state’s electronic recycling infrastructure. He suggested that E-waste problems were rooted in the lack of an appropriate infrastructure to make home users' recycling goals plausible; right now, the effort required and lack of an incentive doesn’t make recycling worth the trouble.
The panel as a whole addressed China and India, both of which are producing electronic waste at an alarming rate. Shireman pointed out China’s potential as a secondary market for recovered American electronic waste but agreed that the growing country’s own waste is an increasingly relevant environmental hazard.
Shegerian closed with passion similar to that of his opening, challenging the roundtable to answer the environment's call. He invited all who care for the environment to support efforts to safely dispose of and recycle electronic waste.
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