TERRA’s Mail-in Electronics Recycling Program Continues to Expand

SEATTLE (Waste 360): USB Recycling.com and American Recycling have joined TERRA (The Electronics Reuse & Recycling Alliance) to provide mail-in electronics recycling options for the states they serve.

By joining TERRA and its mail-in recycling program Done with IT, USB Recycling.com will help drive awareness about the environmental and health effects of electronic waste (e-waste), allow consumers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to sustainably recycle their used electronics and provide secure data destruction services to more than 14.6 million residents in 146 counties from its Certified R2 recycling facility in Wadesboro, N.C., and its affiliated facility in Blacksburg, S.C.

American Recycling provides mail-in electronics recycling options to 5.7 million residents of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. By joining TERRA’s Done with IT recycling program, American Recycling will help drive awareness about the environmental and health effects of e-waste while providing residents in 177 counties across four states with simple, secure and sustainable electronics recycling options from its R2 Certified recycling facility in Lincoln, Neb.

With the addition of American Recycling, TERRA's Done with IT program now serves more than 30 million residents of 13 states.

"Only certified R2 and/or e-Stewards recyclers comply with rigorous standards to refurbish viable devices for reuse and ensure end-of-life equipment is recycled," said Steven Napoli, president and CEO of TERRA, in a statement. "E-waste is also a neglected backdoor to data breach and identity theft, TERRA's certified members make sure the devices they take custody of have all their data destroyed."

"Most people don't understand the value of using a certified recycler," said Richard Yang, owner of USB Recycling.com, in a statement. "We are excited to help TERRA educate businesses and consumers about the importance of following e-waste best practices."

The amount of e-waste generated annually will more than double by 2050 to 120 million tons, the equivalent weight of 83.5 million cars. According to the EPA, e-waste is the fastest-growing solid waste stream and accounts for 70 percent of the toxins entering landfills and illegal dump sites.

E-waste contains lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, etc., and when it's exposed to the elements (i.e. rain and/or snow), it can potentially leach these toxic chemicals directly into the surrounding groundwater, which may cause birth defects or damage to the coronary, respiratory, nervous and skeletal system functions.

"The e-waste crisis is growing and becoming a serious issue at the national, state and local level," said Charlie Wallace, marketing manager at American Recycling, in a statement. "We're very excited to expand our role to provide more options to solve this growing epidemic—especially in underserved communities—by joining TERRA."

"We expect TERRA's Done with IT recycling program to expand rapidly to serve more than 100 million by the end of the year," added Napoli.

Courtesy: www.waste360.com