|
ME: A Maine Town Cuts Trash Going to Landfills by 50%
The town of Sanford, Maine recently implemented a Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) waste management scheme where residents paid for trash removal based on how much trash they threw out. The result? The amount of trash headed to the landfill was slashed by 50 percent while the recycling rate grew by 150 percent. Source: EcoGeek, 8/19/10
Entry into Force of the Amendments adding Nine Chemicals to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants on 26 August 2010
The amendments to list additional persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Annexes A, B and/or C of the Stockholm Convention, adopted by the Conference of the Parties of the Convention at its fourth meeting in May 2009, enter into force on 26 August 2010 for the 152 of the 170 Parties to the Stockholm Convention that have not submitted a notification or a declaration, respectively in accordance with paragraphs 3 and 4 of Article 22 of the Convention. Source: Stockholm Convention on Persistant Organic Pollutants, 8/26/10
EPA Denies Petition Calling for Lead Ammunition Ban
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today denied a petition calling for a ban on the production and distribution of lead hunting ammunition. EPA sent a letter to the petitioners explaining the rejection. Source: U.S. EPA, 8/27/10
Is There a Case Against CSR?
Corporate social responsibility is more than "doing well by doing good." Companies have found that implementing measures related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues make a solid business case as well. Consumers have also become more aware of the impacts that their favorite products have on the planet and people, and are urging companies to respond in kind. CSR approaches are hardly monolithic: some companies focus on taking care of their employees and communities, like Ohio-based Smuckers. Others, like Timberland, educate their consumers on the where, why and how their products are manufactured, and work with their vendors to improve working conditions and economic opportunities for their workers. Many companies follow a reporting standard like that of the Global Reporting Initiative; others simply maintain a portal or issue an annual report. Source: Triple Pundit, 8/2/410
OH: High Tech Recycling Bins Prod Clevelanders to Recycle or Risk Fines
While recycling has long been mainstream in more municipalities, not everyone participates in the weekly trash sorting routine. As garbage disposal fees increase and landfill space decreases, cities are looking for more creative--or intrusive--methods to prod residents into sorting their garbage. Source: Triple Pundit, 8/2/410
Beware: Toxins in E-Waste
For all of the good in recycling and reusing old electronics, we must examine some of the potential hazards.
All e-waste materials have toxins embedded within, and the processes used to extract the valued commodities -- gold, silver, platinum, copper, palladium, plastics, glass, etc. -- are risky, potentially exposing workers to highly toxic materials. Source: Urban Mining
GAO e-Waste Report Misses the Mark on Basel Convention
The U.S. Congress released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report yesterday that addresses the management and trade of hazardous electronic wastes. The report correctly urges the EPA to deal with the massive flows of U.S. e-waste. However, according to the Electronic TakeBak Coalition, it misses the mark in recommending that the EPA put forward legislation that would ratify the Basel Convention, without first prohibiting the export of hazardous electronic waste to developing countries. Source: Sustainable Business | Aug. 12, 2010
E-recycling program might not be achieving its full potential
An Environmental Protection Agency program that encourages federal agencies to recycle old computers and other electronics has achieved limited success throughout government and the nation, federal auditors said. Source: NextGov | Aug. 12, 2010
Technology Is Never Neutral
For some parts of the world, technology has come to deliver longer lives, better health and greater conveniences. However, that progress has also come at a cost to other parts of the world. We live in an era of cheap, disposable electronic consumer goods, and it's taken its toll on places where products are made before they're delivered to you, and where they go after they're tossed aside for the next big thing. Source: Tech News World | Aug. 13, 2010
GAO Releases Report on Electronics Recycling
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report with its recommendations to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on next steps to safely increase the recycling of obsolete electronics. Source: Recycling Today | Aug. 13, 2010
Are e-mail attachments bad for the environment?
Before you send that photo of Fluffy doing something cute to 20 people, consider the impact of every person downloading and storing it. Source: Mother Nature Network | Aug. 12, 2010
State mandates e-waste program
Vermont has had almost 100 percent compliance as it rolls out its new e-waste program, which is intended to cut down on the amount of electronic waste that ends up in the state's landfills. Source: Brattleboro Reformer | Aug. 24, 2010
Smartphone, HDTV Boom Begets Gargantuan E-Waste Problem
The digital media revolution promises to improve the quality of our lives though an expanded capacity to communicate, collaborate, learn and make informed decisions. Yet our seemingly insatiable demand for digital media is driving a proliferation of consumer electronic devices and IT infrastructure, which are significantly contributing to a tsunami of toxic electronic waste. Source: PBS | Aug, 23, 2010
Scientists Concerned About Environmental Impact of Recycling of E-Waste
Much of the world's electronic waste is being shipped to China for recycling and the cottage industry that has sprung up there to recover usable materials from computers, cell phones, televisions and other goods may be creating significant health and environmental hazards. Source: Science Daily | Aug. 26, 2010
E-waste recycling a 'health and environmental hazard'
Scientists are concerned that recycling of electronic waste from computers, cell phones and other goods might be creating significant health and environmental hazards. Source: SifyNews | Aug. 27, 2010
Ireland: 5th anniversary of WEEE implementation
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. John Gormley, has marked the fifth anniversary of the implementation of the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive in Ireland. "There has been a magnificent response to the scheme and in just five years, nearly forty two million units of household WEEE equating to over one hundred and eighty thousand tonnes of old electrical and electronic equipment have been safely taken out of circulation and been recycled", Minister Gormley pointed out. Source: Recycling Portal
HP, DiData tackle Aussie e-waste
Dimension Data and HP have both launched e-waste-related products today, while Fujitsu released a Green IT report that found there was a relative lack of green IT policies across large organisations in Australia, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and India. Source: ZDNet | Aug. 16, 2010
Coinstar Going After E-Waste Market
Coinstar, a U.S. based kiosk operator with brands that include its flagship Coinstar machines as well as the popular "redbox" DVD rental kiosks in supermarkets, has announced an undisclosed investment in ecoATM, a maker of kiosks which pays consumers for recycling their old electronics. Source: Reuters | Aug. 17
California Files Charges Against E-waste Recycler's Execs
California Attorney General Edmund Brown Jr. has filed criminal charges against the owner and two managers of a San Jose electronic waste recycling firm, accusing them of submitting US$1 million in fraudulent reimbursement claims for more than 2 million pounds of waste they never recycled. Source: PC World | Aug. 26. 2010
African countries clamp down on PC donations
Camara, an Irish charity that specialises in the delivery of technology solutions to schools in under-resourced areas in Africa and Ireland acknowledge the problem of e-waste that has sparked this campaign. This problem, which was further highlighted in a UN Report, indicating that global e-waste is growing by about 40 million tons a year, much of which is being dumped in developing countries. Source: TechCentral
Green lights on the IT highway
We are living through the information revolution. Whether it is smart phones, tablet computers, social media or new user-friendly software, new information and communications technologies (ICT) are having a profound effect on our lives, our workplaces and our future. Source: Telegraph Journal | Aug. 27, 2010
GREEN TELECOM: Biodegradable Material For Mobile Phones
NEC says that it has developed a new form of bio-plastic that could be used for mobile phones and is 70% made from a mixture of cellulose, a main component of plant stems, with cardanol, a primary component of cashew nut shells. Source: Voice & Data | Jul. 27, 2010
Target, Best Buy join the used games market
Two big retailers waded into the used games/trade-in market today with separate approaches. Target wants your trade-ins and Best Buy will take what it can get.
With the Target trade-in program, consumers can turn in their "new or used iPod, iPhone, video game, GPS system, camera, and DVDs and Blu-ray discs" and receive a Target GiftCard to spend on anything in any Target store. The program is part of a joint effort between Target and NextWorth, an electronics recycling system committed to reducing e-waste. Source: Network World | Aug. 26, 2010
E-waste recycling programs critiqued for environmental damage. Huh?
There is great irony when an industry trying to be environmentally friendly is accused of the exact opposite.
That's the gist of what might be happening with the electronic waste recycling industry in China -- an industry that takes Canadian and other industrialized nations e-waste and tries to recycle it. Source: National Post | Aug. 26, 2010
Future program for E waste management mooted
Attention has been paid to set up a committee comprising members of stakeholder institutions for planning a future program for E waste management in the country. Source: DailyNews | Aug. 27, 2010
How to Move Green IT From Defense to Offense
My work as a Forrester analyst is focused on helping strategists at IT suppliers (vendors) align their development, positioning, and messaging with the big trends and disruptions in the industry. Mobility, cloud computing, globalization ... trends at that high altitude. Over the last three years or so, that has included sustainability as it has appeared on and risen higher the strategy agenda of companies around the world. Source: Reuters | Aug. 25
Dell Sets Packaging Bar High For Electronics Industry
Technological advances and stringent legislation have made 2010 a big year for the electronics industry.
But despite a high interest in e-waste exportation and the development of sleeker designs that allow for easier recycling, many manufacturers are still skipping over one important detail: packaging. Source: Earth911
GAO to Congress: Stronger Electronics Management Needed
August has been a big month in the realm of electronic waste and recycling, as the subject was both the focus of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study and a named an international priority by the EPA.
The GAO study was prepared for the House of Representative Committee on Science and Technology and released to the public August 11. Source: Earth911 | Aug. 27
|