Lora Bentley spoke with Matt Decareau, business development director at Massachusetts-based M&K Recovery Group about the current state of e-waste recycling requirements in the United States. Though he thinks the new administration has a perfect opportunity to push strict e-waste recycling laws at the federal level, he noted that the country's economic troubles may prevent e-waste recycling from becoming a priority.

Bentley: E-waste recycling requirements are determined on a state by state basis, right?

Decareau: Yes, every state has its own policy. There is no Federal mandate to recycle e-waste as a whole, though there is legislation monitoring the proper disposal of CRTs. As far back as 2002, the U.S. government has been trying to pass a federal policy but to no avail. There has, however, been progress recently: Congress passed the U.S. Electronic Device Recycling Research and Development Act in April 2009 to award multi-year grants for electronic waste research.

Bentley: Do you know how many states have recycling requirements in force already as opposed to how many have legislation pending?

Decareau: There are about 21 states with current recycling laws. California in particular has strong e-waste regulations; other states include Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.

Bentley: Do you think e-waste recycling bills pending in Congress will come into force more quickly now that environmental initiatives are important to  the new administration?

Decareau: I think the current administration has a great opportunity to pass strict e-waste regulation – especially in light of the pending digital TV signal transfer - but unfortunately I believe the state of the economy might interfere with making that a priority.

Bentley: In a state where individuals/businesses still have a choice about how to dispose of e-waste, how do you go about persuading them that recycling is the best choice?

Decareau: As a business, choosing e-cycling to properly dispose of electronic waste is a crucial decision. From a public perspective, it’s important to employ eco-friendly practices, but businesses can also incur fines from the EPA if materials (such as CRTs) are not disposed of properly. There’s also the benefit of knowing any sensitive company data is completely destroyed and the assurance that their old electronics are being recycled responsibly, rather than ending up in a landfill or overseas dumping ground.

My general rule is that the price of bad PR and incurred fines outweighs the small price of properly disposing of their e-waste. Businesses are a little easier to persuade then the average consumer; with consumers, it’s more about peace-of-mind regarding data destruction in light of identity theft concerns, as well as the desire to reduce environmental impact.

Bentley: How much does a recycling solution such as that offered by your company typically cost?

Decareau: The cost of electronics recycling is always changing. One reason is that the initial cost of recycling is supplemented by the extracting and refining of gold and platinum, which is then resold and recycled back into the production stream. The electronics processing costs will vary depending on the day-to-day price these metals are holding. Generally, however, our commercial customers can expect to pay from about $2.50 for smaller pieces such as phones and printers up to $15 for larger CRT monitors (which have a more complicated demanufacturing process), which includes local pickup, certificate of recycling and hard drive destruction serialization.

Bentley: On the flip side, what does a company save by opting to recycle as opposed to simply dumping e-waste?

Decareau: Security is a large gain when a company employs an e-cycling program – electronics are broken down under secure conditions into pieces small enough to ensure sensitive data can never be recovered. Security cannot be ensured when dumping or reselling electronics. By choosing to e-cycle with a responsible recycler, businesses protect themselves against incurring fines – not to mention bad publicity -- that can result from illegal dumping. As company-wide "green" initiatives and programs take hold in the U.S., partnering with an e-cycler to dispose of old equipment is becoming more and more necessary and commonplace.