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Dede talks to James Wylie of Hewlet Packard on Intel's e-waste collection day (left). Dede at the e-waste collection day on the west side (right)
Everyday in the U.S. 3,000 tons of computers and other electronic waste hit the landfill. And more and more outdated TVs, DVDs, fax machines, and telephones go there everyday. That wouldn't be a problem but they contain mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and PCBs, which are headed for the groundwater in the long run. And, they are dangerous to our health.
I've been working on this problem since 2004 when I sponsored a memorial which set up a task force to look at various disposal alternatives.
Intel and Hewlet Packard sponsored an electronic recycling day last Saturday (Aug. 19) at Cottonwood Mall, and the response was overwhelming. People came from as far away as DesMoines, NM to drop off their electronics, and by around 11 a.m. the traffic was so intense that the police and fire departments shut down the event. In the four or five hour period that it was accepting waste, Intel and friends collected 15 huge truckloads of the stuff, three or four times what it collected last year, which was about 95,000 lbs.
I had my own bag of electronic goodies to dispose of, which I ended up taking home with me. But a funny thing happened. As I was walking up to the site carrying my bag, a long-ago-disconnected telephone began to ring. Weird. I'm taking it as a wake up call that we need a more systematic, statewide approach which will build on the good intentions of people to dispose of these things, as well as the responsibilities of the manufacturers and dealers. Other states are doing more than these programs, which are greatly needed, but woefully inadequate given the size of the problem.
Stay tuned and give me your feedback.
we asked for your help for the last few years here in southern new mexico.. it is proven without state help, that e-waste cannot be recycled! you guys did a great job with the new ewaste bill making more work for recyclers. with ewaste at no value now and the price to recycle it at a loss. All ewaste recyclers are either funded by the state or actually just going for the gold, tossing the rest.. since we did neither, we just gave up and recomend sending the material to the landfill. we have sent emails to these state agencies that support the new recycling bill asking to find a company that will get the material.. they still have not responded.. people are cheap here and will not pay to recycle the material when a dumpster sits outside.. and the recyclers will not recycle for free.. so you better get on the ball and figure whos going to recycle this material.. i wasted 4 years recycling this material for free. I have horror stories about my recycling business in this state.. If you are reading this and thinking about starting a recycling business in this state, forget it and goto a state that will support you. If you give your ewaste to any company, just pull out the gold plated material and give to them and throw away the rest. that is what they will do. the company that was recycling an albq in the ad was based out of arizona, the materials went to their facility and then shipped overseas.
i even sat on one of the ewaste meetings in albq a few years back listening from the recyclers and nmrecycle.com just only wanting to recyle the monitor and cpu since that is where the real money is. we offered to take the rest, but that would have made them look bad.. I wouldnt pay a spokesman to lie and sugarcoat my business like they did. We could have made a business out of recycling the money items all day, but the idea was to recycle the material.. turn it into reusable material.. facts are you cannot run an honest ewaste recycling business in nm.. we closed 6 months ago and now i can enjoy bringing to light some of the fraud since they cannot touch me.. If you think you are better than me at recycling, can you say you wasted a half million of your own money like i did.. i wasnt in it for the money until i started producing a product..
to sum it up, dont listen to the line of bs that these people tell you. follow that product until it is turned into something else.. recycling is not "recycling" if you are just going for the gold... we did that too, but there are also plastics and metals.. find me a recycler or politician in this state that doesnt wear an eye patch and will stab you in the back if he sees something shinny.. arrrr
Posted by: james | March 11, 2009 at 02:25 AM