Could CRT glass go to California landfills?

By Jake Thomas, Resource Recycling

California is considering reworking its regulations to broaden how CRT glass can be recycled and to also allow it to be landfilled under certain conditions.

Regulations established by California's 2004 e-scrap law mandate that any company that handles CRTs, or CRT glass, can only send the material for disposition to either a manufacturer that will recycle it into new CRT glass or a primary or secondary lead smelter. But, as these two options become increasingly limited with demand for CRT displays drying up and capacity at smelters remaining restricted, companies that handle the material are storing more and more of it. In response, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) is revisiting its regulations of the material to broaden acceptable end uses of it.

The new regulations would allow other recycling options for the material besides CRT glass manufacturing or lead smelting. They would also permit the CRT glass or intact CRTs to be disposed of in regulated hazardous waste facilities or in landfills specifically designed for toxic waste.

"There's more of this glass being generated than people wanting to develop it into new CRTs," says Andre Algazi, DTSC's chief of toxics in consumer products. According to Algazi, millions of pounds of CRT glass are generated every year that end up being stockpiled due to a lack of end-use markets.

Algazi says that in other states, companies are using CRT glass for construction materials, such as fiberglass for insulation, which would be an option for the material under the new regulations. He also says that there is a process being developed to melt the glass and potentially separate the metal that would also be permitted under the new regulations.

Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, says that his organization understands the problems with the limited end-uses for CRT glass and is okay with the revisions to the regulations as long as disposal is a last resort.

"We can’t make them eat it," says Murray. "If there's no end use market, and there's no place to take it, it's not [the processor's] fault."

He adds that CAW is against any change in statute or regulation that would allow recycling payments to go to landfilling e-waste or CRTs. He also adds that while CAW accepts regulations that allow CRTs to be used for other recycling applications, like construction aggregate, he hopes to see technology that can separate lead from the glass comes to California.

Although the revised regulations would allow for disposal of CRT glass, Algazi says that companies would likely be deterred from going this route because it would have to be sent to a more expensive hazardous waste facility or special landfill.

"If you have to resort to disposal, it's really going to cost you," he says.

In California, companies that process e-scrap covered by the state's e-scrap law can claim money generated from fees consumers pay when buying new electronics. However, companies that recycle CRT glass for purposes permitted under the new regulations will not be eligible for the payments, says Algazi.

However, Shelia Davis, executive director of Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, says that allowing the option to landfill CRT glass at all is a mistake.  She says that her organization supports the development of technology to separate lead from the glass and worries that having the landfill option present might prove to be a disincentive to finding other options for the material.

On Feb. 1, an informational workshop will be held on the new regulations.

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