Jan 29 - Salem County E-waste Recycling Program Under Way
The Salem County Utilities Authority (SCUA) in New Jersey has had an on-going "E-Waste" Recycling Program for the past several years at the Solid Waste Facility and now is expanding their program to take back a wider range of electronic waste.
During the first years of the program, county residents were able to bring their old unwanted computer monitors, towers, printers, scanners and other items such as keyboards and speakers for recycling. These items, that can become dangerous to the environment if not handled correctly, are properly recycled and safely kept out of the waste stream. Now, the program has expanded to include other types of electronics, especially TVs. Stereos, videocassette recorders, DVD players, fax machines, electric typewriters and tabletop copiers are also accepted.
While California has one of the most effective e-waste laws in the nation, recycling 210 million pounds of electronics last year, the existing law covers less than half of all electronics. The "covered electronic wastes" are products that have monitor screens such as televisions, computer monitors, and laptops. It is CAW's legislative priority to expand CA's existing e-waste law to include all electronic devices and provide Californian residents with the same convenient recycling system as in Salem County.
Melinda Williams, assistant director at the SCUA, states:
"Beginning in January of 2010, New Jersey regulations will make it illegal to place any electronics into the regular trash. We decided to be proactive by developing and enlarging our program to service our county residents with more of their E-Waste."