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A report , "Electronic Waste: Actions Needed to Provide Assurance ThatUsed Federal Electronics Are Disposed of in an EnvironmentallyResponsible Manner," released in March from the GovernmentAccountability Office (GAO) found that federal agencies still havea long way to go in managing their own e-waste responsibly.Interestingly, problems identified in the report are ones thatwould be addressed by the passage of bi-partisan Congressionale-waste legislation introduced in the House and Senate, the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act . Here are some of the key findings of the report: 10,000 Computers Disposed Weekly According to the GAO, the U.S. federal government is the world slargest purchaser of IT equipment, spending $80 billion in FY 2010,and disposing of 10,000 computers each week. The report found thatwhile federal agencies have made some improvements in how they aremanaging their e-waste, federal agencies often have littleassurance that their used electronics are ultimately disposed of inan environmentally responsible manner. Floundering Federal Electronics Stewardship There have been several efforts by the federal government topromote better stewardship of used electronics including twoexecutive orders plus voluntary efforts led by the EPA, the GSA,and an inter-agency task force. The GAO goal for this report was toreview these efforts and see if they ve been effective. For itsstudy, the GAO looked at a cross section of five agencies. What it found is that while there has been some improvement inmanagement of federal e-waste, none of these efforts can assurethat federally owned e-waste is being managed responsibly, mostlybecause the agencies can t show what s ultimately happening totheir used products. Agencies Don t Know Where it Goes Agencies typically use several different methods for disposing oftheir unwanted electronics, including donating them, sending themto other federal agencies, giving them to a recycler, or sellingthem at auction. Currently, agencies only report (via a GSAreporting system) some of their donations, meaning most of theire-waste isn t reported or tracked. The GAO report notes, Currently, due to challenges associated with the tracking andreporting of used federal electronics, t he ultimate disposition of these electronics is unknown. Exporters Find Ready Supply at Government Auctions As long as they are selling e-waste via auctions, the agencies willbe unable to control or even know what happens with their usedproducts. Brokers commonly buy lots from auctions, and export themto developing countries. The report found that federal agenciesdon t even see it as their responsibility for making sure theire-waste is disposed of properly. Better Solutions We continue to be astonished that our own federal government hasnot chosen to lead by example when it comes to managing its usede-waste in the most responsible way possible. We believe theyshould: Not allow federally owned e-waste to be exported to developingcountries. This includes units/parts that are not tested, or arenot found to be fully functional. No auctions. There is no way to perform due diligence on equipmentpurchased at auction. This practice should be ended. Use certified e-Stewards. This is the strictest recycling standard out there, so thefederal agencies should use recyclers certified to this standard. No prison labor. Many agencies use UNICOR, a federally-owned,prison labor recycler, for their used electronics. This undercutsrecycling business, and has many health and safety problems forprison workers. Track donations, to make sure they are ultimately recycledresponsibly. Donations to schools and non profits or governmentagencies should be tracked, and the donating agency should makesure that this equipment (which often has a short reuse life) willbe handled responsibly, even if the agency must provide theresources to do so. Congress Has the Answer to the Agencies Problem Fortunately, members of both houses of Congress have introduced abill that would address these problems. H.R. 2284 and S. 1270 , the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act (RERA) would restrictthe export of toxic e-waste (including that coming from the federalgovernment) to developing countries. This includes used electronicswhich have not been tested, or which are not fully functional.Exporters of electronics would need to be licensed by the EPA,which would weed out most of the brokers who currently buy atauction simply to export to developing nations. Barbara Kyle is national coordinator of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition . This article was reprinted with permission from the Electronics TakeBack Coalition. I am an expert from watercooling-chiller.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Water Cooling Towers , China Ice Cubes Making Machine, Water Cooling Chiller,and more.
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