On February 11, 2009, the Science and Technology Committee will receive
testimony on draft legislation entitled “The Electronic Waste Research
and Development Act of 2009.” Witnesses will provide their comments on,
and suggestions to, the bill. They will also discuss ways in which
research and development (R&D) can help address the challenge of
managing the disposal of electronics products in the United States. Five
witnesses, representing perspectives from academia, a non-profit,
electronics producers, and electronics recyclers, will offer testimony.
Witnesses
- Dr. Valerie Thomas, Anderson Interface Associate Professor, Georgia
Institute of Technology. Dr. Thomas will discuss her research on
innovative methods to manage electronic waste and the challenges
facing the recycling and re-use of electronic products.
- Dr. Paul Anastas, Teresa and H. John Heinz
III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry
for the Environment and Director of the Center for Green Chemistry and
Green Engineering, Yale University. Dr. Anastas will discuss the
applicability of research in green chemistry and engineering to the
electronics sector.
- Philip Bond, President, Technology Association of America. Mr. Bond
will discuss ways in which innovation through R&D could help
electronics manufacturers address the challenge of electronic waste.
He will also give his views on promoting collaboration between
industry and non-industry researchers to encourage the transfer of
successful research into products.
- Jeff Omelchuck, Executive Director, Green Electronic Council and
Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). Mr.
Omelchuck will discuss the development and utility of
EPEAT, challenges to making existing
electronics products more environmentally friendly, and ways in which
R&D could address these challenges.
- Willie Cade, Chief Executive Officer, PC Rebuilders and Recyclers. Mr.
Cade will describe the challenges faced by electronics refurbishers
and recyclers, and discuss ways to promote collaboration between
academic researchers and the recycling and refurbishing businesses.
Issues and Concerns
- Electronic waste, or e-waste, the term used to describe used
televisions, computers, cell phones, monitors, etc. that are ready for
discard, is a growing problem in the U.S. and worldwide. The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
estimated
that between 1980 and 2004, 2 billion electronic products were sold in
the U.S. Of these they estimated just over half were still in use,
while 42 percent had been disposed of and 9 percent were in storage.
Of the amount disposed of, only 11 percent reached recyclers. The rest
went to landfills. Electronics are bulky and contain hazardous
materials that pose concerns for disposal in landfills. Due to the
involvement of state and local governments, environmental groups, and
electronics producers, more of these products are being recycled.
However, as described below, there are still many hurdles to
cost-effective, nationwide electronics recycling. Additionally, the
biggest environmental footprint for electronics arises out of their
production. Enabling consumers to use (or re-use) these products
longer could reduce the impact of this production on the environment.
The draft legislation discussed at this hearing will address some of
the challenges to increase recycling and re-use through R&D and
education.
- While e-waste recycling is increasing in the U.S., the industry faces
a number of challenges. These challenges include convincing consumers
to recycle, the logistics of collecting e-waste, efficiently
disassembling products, safely removing hazardous substances,
efficiently processing materials, and recovering value from many of
the e-waste constituent materials. For instance, the more commingled a
stream of plastics becomes as casings and components from products are
mixed together in processing, the less value it has for re-use.
Improving the technologies that sort these plastics, or developing new
processes and materials that can use non-homogenous plastics will make
e-waste recycling less costly and will reduce waste material. From
research on influencing consumer behavior to automated methods of
sending information to recyclers about the products moving through
their plants, R&D could help make recycling more efficient and
cheaper.
- The design of electronic products could also aid in making recycling
more cost efficient. Many products are difficult to disassemble and
the location of hazardous materials varies (i.e., mercury lamps in
some flat panel displays). Product design for recycling would look at
the needs of end of life management. Greater use of materials recycled
from old electronics is another upfront design choice that would help
make recycling more profitable. Researchers could examine the
feasibility of different design schemes and recycled materials usage
to help electronic product development become more of a closed loop
process.
- Scores of different chemicals and materials comprise computers,
televisions, cell phones and other electronics. Some of the substances
used in electronics (e.g. lead and hexavalent chromium) have raised
enough concern that the European Union adopted a measure to ban their
use in electronics products sold in Europe. Manufacturers have been
able to comply with these requirements for most consumer electronics,
but the process to ban substances sensitive to the environment and
human health is on-going. For example, the risk to human health posed
by certain types of brominated flame retardants used in electronics
and other products has created a controversy over their continued use.
Comprehensive data on the properties of substitutes for harmful
materials would enable electronics designers to change their products
more quickly in response to concerns raised by different materials.
The availability of this type of comprehensive data, provided by the
National Institutes of Standards and Technology, enabled manufacturers
to quickly meet the challenge of eliminating ozone-layer depleting
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from their products in the 1980’s.
- Increasing the amount of electronics headed to responsible recyclers
is essential to reducing the impacts of e-waste. Also essential though
is research to increase and encourage the re-use of electronic
products. Estimates of the total amount of energy required over a
computer’s lifecycle show that roughly 80 percent goes into the
computer’s production phase, and only 20 percent into the use phase.
Extending the amount of time a product is in use could not only reduce
the volume of e-waste, but also lessen the impact of the production of
these complex and sophisticated products on the environment. Often
consumers buy new cell phones, laptops, or other devices because they
want the functionality or “look” of a new model, not because their
current device is broken. Consumers are often wary of purchasing used
electronics because they are unsure of a used product’s value or they
are afraid it will not meet their needs. Developing re-use markets
that aid consumers in evaluating used devices could help keep these
devices in the hands of consumers for a longer period of time.
Prolonging a device’s use could also be accomplished by developing
ways for consumers to easily upgrade their current products.
- Improving the training of students equips the future workforce to
design products with a minimal environmental impact. Continuing
education of the existing workforce in the electronics and recycling
industries informs these individuals of best-practices in their
fields. Similarly, collaboration between academic researchers and
those in industry can help transfer solutions to the problems
identified above as fast as possible.
Background
Regulations
No federal law or national framework exists to handle the growing volume
of e-waste generated by U.S. consumers. At least since 2000, with the
convening of the National Electronics Stewardship Initiative,
electronics producers and other stakeholders have been aware of the
e-waste problem. However, because of competing interests over financing
mechanisms, electronics producers, environmental groups, and consumer
representatives have not been able to reach a consensus on how a
national e-waste program should be implemented. In the absence of
federal regulations, some states and localities have instituted
mandatory e-waste recycling. California implemented a program in 2005.
Maine, Washington, and Minnesota implemented e-waste programs in 2007.
Other states, like Oregon, are slated to begin their programs this year.
Each state program is slightly different, creating a challenge for
electronics companies that now must finance the take-back and recycling
of products in all states with programs (except California, where
consumers pay a fee for recycling at the time of purchase). In addition,
many of these companies have extended this take-back service to
consumers in states without specific e-waste programs, though the
service is not always free of charge.
The European Union has been ahead of the U.S. in dealing with e-waste,
passing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE)
in 2000, which banned disposal of e-waste in landfills and required
producers to take-back their used products. The actual implementation of
this directive has varied country by country. In Europe, just as in the
U.S., the cost of recycling is also a challenge.
Export
Another significant problem is the export of e-waste from the developed
world to China and other developing nations, where low-paid workers pull
apart the products to extract any valuable materials. Using crude
methods, these workers are exposed to toxic substances, carrying a heavy
burden on human health and the surrounding environment. While some
exported electronics can be legitimately refurbished and re-used, an
overwhelming quantity has no re-use value and is improperly and unsafely
recycled or discarded. According to the Basel Action Network (BAN),
approximately 80 percent of the e-waste directed to recycling in the
U.S. is not recycled, but is instead exported. Much of this export is
not illegal, though the EPA requires that any
exporter of the leaded-glass cathode ray tubes (CRT) from old television
certify that all CRT exports are going to
legitimate processors overseas. This rule is frequently ignored and only
minimally enforced. Both BAN and the Institute
of Scrap Recycling Industries are working on separate standards that
would promote accountability within the electronics recycling community.
These standards will be available sometime this year.
Federal Activity
When safely handled, e-waste can be a valuable
source of commodities like gold and
silver. These items are more enriched in these precious metals than a
comparable weight of naturally occurring ore. To encourage recycling,
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers facts on e-waste and
information to consumers about where they can find recyclers in their
area on their website. EPA also has the “Plug
Into eCycling Program” which is a partnership between
EPA, manufacturers, and retailers to offer
consumers more opportunities to recycle or donate their old electronics.
An example of an initiative under the program is the campaign “Recycle
your cell phone. It’s an easy call.” This is a national campaign
supported by major manufacturers, carriers, and retailers to educate
consumers about cell phone recycling. The EPA
has also supported a Design for the Environment Program and Electronics
Products Assessment Tool (EPEAT).
EPEAT
EPEAT receives EPA
funding, and is a product of the not-for-profit Green Electronics
Council. EPEAT is an assessment tool that
compares the environmental attributes of different brands and models of
desktop and laptop computers. Many large institutional buyers, including
sectors of the Federal Government, will only buy equipment that is
ranked highly by EPEAT. EPEAT convenes
manufactures, environmental representatives, and other stakeholders to
establish performance criteria the products must meet to attain rankings
of bronze, silver, or gold. Products are rated in such categories as to
the amount of environmentally sensitive material they contain, ease of
disassembly for recycling, and energy conservation.
Opportunities for R&D and Education
As identified above, by supporting R&D and education, the proposed
legislation can help reduce the impact of electronics products on the
environment through recycling and re-use.
Discussion Draft – Electronic Waste Research and Development Act
Section by Section
Section 1. Short Title
Provides the short title of the legislation, the Electronic Waste
Research and Development Act
Section 2. Findings
Outlines the current background information, concerns, and impacts of
electronic waste on the environment.
Section 3. Definitions
Defines the terms Administrator as the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency; a consortium; the term e-waste; an
institution of higher learning; and the Director as the Director of the
National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Section 4. Electronic Waste Engineering Research, Development and
Demonstration Projects
Directs the Administrator to provide grants through a competitive,
merit-based process to be done jointly with institutes of higher
education, non-profit research institutions, government laboratories,
and for-profit entities (i.e. manufacturers, designers, refurbishers, or
recyclers) to find ways to manage electronic waste through reduction,
reuse, and recycling, and make the findings of the research available to
the public. The section requires a report to Congress within 2 years
after enactment and every two years thereafter of the grants awarded and
a list of the projects and their findings.
Section 5. National Academy of Sciences Report on Electronic Waste
Directs the Administrator to arrange a study by the National Academy of
Sciences to look at the current research programs and the barriers and
opportunities available to reduce electronic waste, reduce the use of
hazardous materials in electronic products, and better product design
for efficient re-use and recycling.
Section 6. Engineering Curriculum Development Grants
Directs the Administrator to provide grants through a competitive,
merit-based process to institutes of higher education and community
colleges to reduce electronic waste through better teaching and training
of students and current workforce by developing a green engineering
curricula and creating internships.
Section 7. “Green” Alternative Materials Physical Property Database
Directs the Director to establish a physical property database for green
alternative materials for use in electronic products.
House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
2318 Rayburn
02/11/2009 at 10:00AM