Covanta Energy Urges Businesses and Consumers to Rethink Trashing Used Electronics in Salute of America Recycles Day

FAIRFIELD, N.J., Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Recycling is a way that everyone can help protect the environment and conserve natural resources. Although recycling plastic, glass and paper has been widely adopted in the United States, many people fail to take the extra step of properly recycling their electronic waste (e-waste) or do not know what to do with unwanted electronics. E-waste is the fastest growing segment of the municipal waste stream in the U.S. with over three million tons of electronics generated each year of which only 14% is recovered for recycling. The rest typically end up in landfills. Electronics should not be disposed of in your trash because most contain heavy metals such as lead (avg. monitor contains 4-7 lbs. of lead), batteries, mercury and cadmium.

In observation of America Recycles Day on November 15, 2010, Covanta Energy, an internationally recognized owner and operator of large-scale Energy-from-Waste and renewable energy projects, offers the following tips for handling consumer e-waste:

REUSE

Donating used (but still operating) electronics for reuse extends the life of valuable products before they need to be properly disposed. Before you donate, make sure the equipment works and someone can use it. Many organizations that accept donations may be limited in what they can repair/upgrade and put back into service, so ask first.  

RECYCLE/RECOVER

• Over 1,000 or more counties and municipalities across the U.S. offer computer and electronics collection programs as part of household hazardous waste collections, special events, or other arrangements. Depending on where you live and the amount of equipment you have, contact your county or municipality or go on their website to see when the next electronics recycling event will take place.
• State Departments of Environmental Protection websites are also a good resource to see who is a licensed electronics recycler within your state and where they are located.
• Some large box stores (online and off-line) also accept electronics for recycling whether you purchased the item from them or not.  Some even offer credit rewards!

Recycling electronics helps reduce pollution that would be generated while manufacturing a new product and the need to extract valuable and limited virgin resources from the earth. It also reduces the energy used in new product manufacturing. Whether you decide to donate used electronics for reuse or turn components in for recycling, always remember to completely erase data from any electronics with a hard drive such as cell phones, smart phones, computers, and printers.

For more information on how to find out how to responsibly handle e-waste and to participate in a poll on e-waste recycling, please visit covantaenergy.com/americarecyclesday2010.

Follow Covanta Energy on Twitter @CovantaEnergy and on Facebook at Facebook.com/CovantaEnergy.

*Data Source: 12th Annual Household CE Ownership and Market Potential Study- Consumer Electronics Association

About Covanta

Covanta Energy is an internationally recognized owner and operator of large-scale Energy-from-Waste and renewable energy projects and a recipient of the Energy Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.  Covanta's 44 Energy-from-Waste facilities provide communities with an environmentally sound solution to their solid waste disposal needs by using that municipal solid waste to generate clean, renewable energy. Annually, Covanta's modern Energy-from-Waste facilities safely and securely convert more than 20 million tons of waste into 9 million megawatt hours of clean renewable electricity, recycle more than 400,000 tons of metals and create more than 9 billion pounds of steam that are sold to a variety of industries. For more information, visit www.covantaenergy.com.

SOURCE Covanta Energy