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Computers and other electronics have clearly brought many benefits. These benefits notwithstanding, large volumes of hazardous waste from computers, cellular phones, televisions, and other electronic technologies—called e-waste, electronic waste, or information technology (IT) waste—have been generated since the mid-1980's. Generally, the e-waste is either warehoused or unsafely disposed of or disassembled.
A recent U.S. study found that over 315 million computers will become obsolete by the year 2004. The tremendous amount of electronic waste that is currently stored and the amount of e-waste that will be generated by rapidly changing technology holds the potential to seriously poison us, our land and our water (see Toxics in Electronics).
An environmental strategy to solve the e-waste problem, called product stewardship, is gaining wide acceptance among U.S. governmental agencies. Product stewardship means whoever designs, produces, sells, or uses a given product shares responsibility for minimizing the product's environmental impact throughout all the stages of the product's life cycle.
Under
product stewardship no one in a product's life is without responsibility. However,
product stewardship is necessarily shared in proportion to the ability to
minimize the environmental impacts.
Thus, the greatest responsibility for creating electronics that can be
made and recycled safely (or reused) would be borne by the product's manufacturers--called producer responsibility (also called "extended producer
responsibility" or EPR).
This does not mean that manufacturers will become
recyclers. Producer responsibility simply asks that manufacturers take
responsibility by either taking back their electronics at the end of the life
cycle or funding a national recycling program for the appropriate disposal of
electronic equipment. Products already contain many costs in addition to
production, such as the costs for marketing, workplace regulations and EPA
requirements. Why not include the cost of disposal? Why is the cost of
environmentally sound disposal of electronics singled out and placed on the
taxpayers and ratepayers?
Producer
responsibility, a policy tool that is being implemented throughout Europe, creates a
free-market, financial incentive for
electronic products to be designed with recyclable materials and for easy
repair, upgrade, reuse, and recycling.
WCRC advocates
producer responsibility as the most
sustainable strategy for the development of infrastructures, laws and standards
that will control the
disposal and recycling of electronic wastes. WCRC's recent (2002) Electronics
Survey on producer responsibility indicates that over 90% of consumers agree
that manufacturers of electronic products should be responsible for designing
them to be easily recyclable and less toxic,
and that
when electronic products contain toxic lead and mercury, manufacturers should
provide a safe and convenient way to recycle them.
E-waste is a problem that can be solved. Producer responsibility is the long
term solution. Government (i.e., the taxpayer) should not bear the major
burden of environmentally sound disposal of electronics. Read more on this
website about the benefits of producer responsibility and how you can
encourage electronic manufacturers to adopt this far sited, mutually
beneficial policy.
For a peek at the future, and greater understanding of some of the subtleties of the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility, go to the EPR Working Group's paper "A Prescription for Clean Production, Pollution Prevention and Zero Waste" on the GrassRoots Recycling Network site.
