ISRI agenda looks at government involvement

By Jerry Powell, Resource Recycling

Electronics recycling was a key focus of the agenda and trade show at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries' annual convention in Las Vegas this week. More than 200 industry leaders attended ISRI's half-dozen sessions on various aspects of e-scrap recovery and utilization.

The involvement of the federal government in advancing e-scrap recovery was outlined by Lisa Feldt, the deputy assistant administrator of the U.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. Feldt concluded "there's much work to be done" in electronics recycling and that such recycling is "a major priority within the agency. It is a cornerstone of what we are working on."

She earlier represented EPA on the development of the federal electronics recycling framework that was issued last summer, following an Executive Order requiring its development. Over 15 federal agencies were involved in designing this strategy. The effort has four goals:

1. Develop green guidelines and incentives for electronics manufacture and use. This includes such efforts as design challenges and prizes, etc., and builds on the EPEAT "success."
2. Assure proper recycling of federal e-scrap. "We will lead by example." She noted that those firms handling obsolete federal e-scrap must be certified by either R2 or e-Stewards. "We support both standards."
3. Increase the safe handling of electronics recycling in the U.S. The EPA will be working with R2 and the Basel Action Network (the creator of the e-Stewards standard) to assure that safety concerns remain a key element of any revisions to the certification programs.
4. Reduce harm of U.S. exports of e-waste and improve the safe handling of these shipments in developing countries. This will include the development of partnerships with and the provision of technical assistance to reclaimers in these countries. EPA's Office of International Technology is already sponsoring technology transfer initiatives, and others in the agency are working with the Chinese environment agency in sponsoring a major workshop on clean e-scrap recycling technologies. EPA will also continue to enforce its CRT-glass export rule, which is currently under revision.

International trends and issues were also a key concerns at this year's convention.

As a reflection of the importance of international practices, ISRI offered a panel discussion featuring portrayals of e-waste trends in China and India, as well as an assessment of work being done by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

Katharina Kummer Peiry of UNEP discussed the paradigm shift that occurred at the top-level Basel Convention meeting last October in Colombia, where hazardous waste, in addition to being something that needs to be managed responsibly, can also be viewed as a resource.

"Hazardous waste now represents a green-economy opportunity, rather than a problem" Peiry said. "E-waste is a prime example of this opportunity." The main implication of this shift may be the removal of some barriers for trans-boundary movement of these wastes."

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