Copper Country Recycling initiative Launches E-Waste Program

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage):To celebrate the launch of a new electronics recycling program the Copper Country Recycling Initiative (CCRI) hosted a Monday screening of the documentary “Death by Design,” which focuses on the environmental and social impacts of producing technological devices and the e-waste they generate.

The film screening was launched a new state-certified, secure e-waste recycling program that the CCRI helped to bring to the area. E-waste recycling programs had been previously offered in Houghton County by the Health Department and various senior programs but had not been offered for a number of years.

There are other area businesses and facilities that will accept e-waste, but they are not certified and are not held accountable for what they do with the waste.

Members of the CCRI expressed concern that non-certified organizations remove the most valuable components of e-waste, and then throw the rest away.

“There’s such a mix of materials. When your phone is working it’s all in one piece,” said Evan McDonald, CCRI co-chairman. “It’s not an easy thing to separate all of that.”

Precious and rare metals used in electronic devices can make the parts valuable but removing the valuable parts can be too expensive for many companies to bother with. As a result, dangerous and irresponsible methods are often used in other parts of the world to remove these parts leading to further pollution.

“If you don’t make it easy for people to handle their waste, some people are going to handle it the wrong way,” said McDonald.

Much of the energy in the CCRI comes from individuals who are not originally from the Copper Country and are used to having more recycling programs, which are difficult in rural areas like Houghton County.

Building up to an e-waste recycling program has not been an easy project for the CCRI. When the organization formed around four years ago, its first goal was to initiate a cardboard recycling program at local waste-management facilities through grants from the Department of Environmental Quality and Houghton County.

Last year the CCRI also succeeded in beginning a curbside recycling program to Houghton and Hancock.
The group is also interested in opening up glass recycling in the area, though glass is a heavier product that is more difficult to recycle and has a smaller market.

The e-waste program, the U.P. Electronics Recycling Network, is also funded in part by the DEQ and is supported through collaboration between Goodwill Industries and Comprenew, a computer recycling, data security and asset recovery company based in Grand Rapids.

Courtesy: https://wasteadvantage.com