Electronics recyclers vow to clean up

February 28, 2003 (from the San Jose Mercury News)

More than a dozen electronics recyclers pledged Tuesday to keep hazardous products out of landfills, out of incinerators and out of the hands of children in Third World countries who work for pennies to strip recyclable parts from obsolete machines.

It's a small dent in a big problem, says Ted Smith, executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. But by raising awareness across the country, Smith and the others hope to start a groundswell and attract the attention of politicians in Sacramento and Washington.

Tuesday, in an industrial warehouse filled with old computer parts, Mark Levitt, vice president of operations for San Jose's Hackett Electronics, signed a pledge to better handle electronic waste.

He promised to keep track of old parts as they make their way through the recycling chain, to do business with companies that share the same concerns for the environment and to keep hazardous products out of landfills, incinerators and prisons, where inmates dismantle them for low pay.

Mostly, the pledge, signed by Levitt and executives of 15 other recyclers in the United States and Canada, commits to keeping monitors and cables and motherboards out of Third World countries and the hands of impoverished workers who might handle them unsafely.

Earlier this year, the Mercury News published a three-part series that documented the labor and environmental problems related to computer assembly and recycling in China.

Smith said it's that type of exposure that has raised awareness and helped convince recyclers to do their part to end the cycle.

``This has got to stop,'' Smith said. ``We're harming the environment. We're harming children.''

But the issue of recycling electronics parts goes deeper than the health of grade-schoolers in Asia, said Tom Hogye, general manager of Santa Clara recycler United DataTech, a company that agreed to the pledge.

This is also about money and jobs and even ethics.

At a news conference Tuesday, Smith couldn't say how many electronics recyclers there are or whether the 16 that signed the pledge was a significant number.

More than a token

``It's less than half, but more than a token number,'' he said.

Many recyclers aren't really recycling but instead are collecting outmoded products and shipping them directly overseas -- and pocketing quite a bit of money for it, too.

``There are a lot of people who sleep very comfortably at night by not signing that pledge,'' Hogye said. ``Everyone is on the recycling bandwagon now. It's a big deal. You can make a lot of money calling yourself an electronics recycler.''

The costs of being a responsible recycler are not cheap, Smith said. And that's an obstacle in trying to convince other recyclers to join the effort.

But now, only these 16 have the environmentally responsible stamp of approval from groups such as the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. And that could mean a lot to consumers who are tired of storing that old monitor in the garage but have been leery of dumping it irresponsibly.

Time to celebrate

``It's a time to celebrate a coming-out party for computer waste,'' said Jim Puckett of Basel Action network, a Seattle-based environmental activists' group that joined the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition in hosting Tuesday's pledge signings. ``Finally, we are able to tell consumers it is safe to take that old computer and monitor out of the closet, attic or garage, and send it to a company that has agreed to be among the most responsible recyclers in the entire industry.''

But don't expect to run down to the local recycler and pick up a few bucks for your computer monitor, as you might for bringing in plastic bottles or aluminum cans.

Economically, recyclers have to process electronics in bulk. ``Recycling like this is not a low-volume operation,'' Levitt said. ``We have to collect 40,000 pounds of PC boards before we can process them efficiently and cost-effectively.''

An individual who walks in from the street with a monitor in hand might expect to pay as much as $20 to drop it off.

The price is actually a bargain, Hogye said, considering the amount of labor that goes into responsible recycling.

Keeping the recycling process in the United States not only ensures that it's being handled responsibly, but also keeps Americans employed.

``You can't rely on prison labor, which we do,'' Smith said. ``I think we need to have a responsible and efficient domestic recycling structure that pays living wages to American workers.''

No prison labor

Hogye, who once shipped products to prisons but has since stopped, agreed.

"People are losing jobs left and right around here," he said. "I don't want jobs being lost to prisoners."