US EPA reports robust e-scrap recovery rates in 2013

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The newly released report by the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) states that the national recovery rate for consumer electronics made significant jump during the year 2013, in comparison with the previous year. The e-scrap recovery rates skyrocketed from 30.6% in 2012 to as high as 40.4% in 2013.

The Advancing Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Facts and Figures report doesn’t clarify whether the sudden rise in rates are a result of real pickup in recovery rates. It is unclear as to whether the sharp jump in rates is due to rise in recycling or the result of improvement in collected data. According to the report, the municipal solid waste comprised of 3.14 million tons of selected electronic waste during the year 2013, out of which 1.27 million tons were recovered. The selected e-scrap includes TVs, VCRs, DVD players, video cameras, stereo systems, phones and computer equipment.

In 2013, the country generated nearly 254 million tons of trash. About 87 million tons of this material was recycled and composted. This equates to a total recycling rate of 34.3%. Newspapers/ Mechanical Papers recovery rate stood around 67% with 5.4 million tons recovered. Organic materials continued to be the major component of municipal solid waste. Paper and paperboard accounted for 27%, whereas yard trimming and food accounted for 28%. Plastics contributed nearly 13%., followed by metals, leather, rubber and textiles that accounted for 9% each. Wood contributed 6%. Also, 5% of the waste was comprised of glass.

The report states that recycling and composting diverted 87.2 million tons from being disposed in 2013. This prevented release of nearly 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air.

It must be noted that US EPA had launched the SMM Electronics Challenge to promote responsible donation and recycling of used electronics in 2013.