Today, 23 states require computer companies to take back their used equipment sold in those states. Minnesota’s Electronic Recycling Act was signed into law in 2007, requiring manufacturers to recycle 80% of their electronic products sold here in Minnesota. Apple, Canon and Dell all offer take-back programs for business and consumer electronics. These are big changes for the better. But are they enough?

Probably not. Nationwide, homes and businesses dispose of 2 million tons of used electronics. According to the EPA, only 20 percent of these are recycled or repurposed, and the rest head out to the landfill. What’s more, not all recyclers recycle safely or ethically. Some recycling companies have been found to be shipping used electronics to developing nations, where inexact and dangerous recovery methods are used to extract metals. In those locations as well as in our domestic landfills, toxic chemicals such as lead, mercury and beryllium can leak into soil and groundwater. Environmental problems result, as do human illness. For these and other ethical reasons, RenovoData Services has never engaged in this practice, and we never will. Our aim is to be part of the solution rather than the problem.

As it stands, the problem is significant. In Minnesota, manufacturers recycle about 6 pounds of electronic waste per person per year. Assuming that this represents 80 percent of all e-waste in Minnesota—a state of more than 5 million residents—then an additional 6.3 million pounds of e-waste is being dumped in landfills every year in this state alone.
Without question, the state’s Electronic Recycling Act is a step in the right direction and a sign of growing awareness of the necessity of e-cycling. But the gap is considerable, and the resulting waste poses an ongoing risk to our environment here in Minnesota, the country, and the world. RenovoData Services will continue to do its part in closing the gap by providing electronics recycling services, and through voluntary compliance with federal environmental laws.
We encourage everyone to do what they can too!

Can companies dispose of their electronic waste such as old computers and printers without harm to the environment?

At RenovoData Services, our mission is to act on this important issue by recycling or renewing electronic equipment. Computers and other common office equipment contain materials that can be toxic if disposed of improperly. So we’re taking steps to further establish a thoughtful, systematic way to recycle responsibly, and bring the results our customers expect.

We’re proud to announce that we’ve begun the process of certification for the ISO 14001:2004, the only Environmental Management System (EMS) recognized worldwide.

In its most simple terms, the ISO 14001:2004 is a system for holding ourselves accountable to the environment in the work we do. It provides guidelines for establishing and implementing an environmental management policy according to our own standard. And with our Zero Landfill Policy, our standard is already as high as it gets.

ISO 14001:2004 certification will also strengthen our firm commitment to complying with all local and federal laws and regulations having to do with waste and the environment. It also means that we’ll never stop learning, and we’ll never stop improving our methods, our management, our efficiency and, of course, our environmental impact.

At RenovoData Services, we want to improve the way e-waste is managed because we believe that our customers and partners deserve peace of mind when it comes to handling old equipment. Embarking on this certification is one more way we’re bringing value to your business and new life to your old electronics while protecting the environment–our most important asset of all.

127 tons of electronic junk… in just 2 months!!

“India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has intercepted five huge containers of old computer parts being dumped illegally in Chennai in just two months. Altogether it has found 127 tonnes of e-waste, much of which contains nickel, mercury and lead and could be linked to environmental damage as well as health concerns for”

read more…

Why are we dumping our old junk on China, India and Africa?  People in my neighborhood complain about a new water tower… Just imagine if someone dumped 127 tons of electronic scrap at the end of the block!!  This has got to stop!!

Source… 23 Aug 2010 14:23 | by a staff writer | posted in Business Read more: http://www.techeye.net/business/chennai-india-being-used-as-e-waste-dumping-ground#ixzz0xipo1mvT

There’s a ton of great information here from the Environmental Science & Technology Journal… following is a brief synopsis from their web site, click the link for further information… good reading for just before bed time… it gets pretty technical… The long and short of it… There are a lot of obsolete computers out there, and the outlook is for an increase.  Environmentally sound recycling practice is a critical issue

E-Scrap 2010: Emerging economies, growing waste stream

Electronic waste (e-waste) has emerged as a new policy priority around the world. Motivations to address e-waste include rapidly growing waste streams, concern over the environmental fate of heavy metals and other substances in e-waste, and impacts of informal recycling in developing countries. Policy responses to global e-waste focus on banning international trade in end-of-life electronics, the premise being that e-waste is mainly generated in the developed world and then exported to the developing world. Sales of electronics have, however, been growing rapidly in developing nations, raising the question of whether informal recycling in developing countries driven by international trade or domestic generation. This paper addresses this question by forecasting the global generation of obsolete personal computers (PCs) using the logistic model and material flow analysis. Results show that the volume of obsolete PCs generated in developing regions will exceed that of developed regions by 2016−2018. By 2030, the obsolete PCs from developing regions will reach 400−700 million units, far more than from developed regions at 200−300 million units. Future policies to mitigate the impacts of informal recycling should address the domestic situation in developing countries.

Source, References and Credits.

RenovoData Services is partnering with The Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce and the Edina Chamber of Commerce to provide Electronics Recycling and Free Hard Drive Shredding at the event.

• When – August 19th 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
• Where – Grace Church – 9301 Eden Prairie Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55347 (map)
• What :

1. Recycling of PC’s & Laptops, Cell Phones, Small Printers, Small Office Devices at no charge.
2. Recycling of Monitors, Large Printers, TV’s and small appliances at 35 cents per pound.

This recycling event will take place in support of the E-Shared Partnership Event – Progressive Networking Luncheon…. see details below..

Registration: Click here to Register | or call (952)-944-2830
Price: Members: $25, Non-Members: $40

1. A 60 second commercial about your business
2. A large stack of business card

RenovoData Services will host a one-day event on Saturday, November 14, to collect and dispose of electronic devices that hold private data. Data breaches don’t happen just to large companies. Think of all the tasks for which you use your computer or PDA—these devices contain a lot of personal data.

Please note, our event is not for all types of e-waste. For a small fee, RenovoData Services will collect only the following:
- Computers—$10, including its monitor, keyboard and/or mouse
- Printers or additional monitors—$10
- Computer hard drives—$10. Hard drives will be shredded on-site if removed from the case
- Personal digital assistants (PDAs) or cell phones—no charge
- Flash drives—no charge

Date: November 14, 2009

Hours: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Location: Education Center, 8040 Mitchell Road, Eden Prairie, Minn., 55344 (enter off Technology Drive, west of Mitchell Road)
Bring us your old, unused cell phones and help the Quarter Million Phone Project!

Keep your cell phone out of the landfill and safeguard your personal data. We will repurpose or recycle your cell phone, and we guarantee it will not be incinerated or dumped into a landfill.

Help us reach our goal to collect a quarter of a million cell phones.

According to the United Nations Environment Program, about 20 to 50 million tons of electronic waste are generated worldwide each year. A 2008 study by Greenpeace suggests only 25% of European Union e-waste and just 20% of U.S. e-waste is recycled properly.

Eighty percent of e-waste is not recycled properly. Much of it ends up overseas in cities in developing countries such as Accra, Ghana, and Guiyu, China.

The shipping of cathode ray tube (CRT) computer monitors and televisions from the United States to overseas countries is not illegal. Rules set up in 2007 by the EPA stipulate a company only needs approval from the EPA and approval from the receiving country to ship the e-waste. As long as both parties agree, no law has been broken. These rules do not apply to other electronics such as computers.

But according to the General Accounting Office, the EPA’s enforcement of these rules has been lax.

A tool to curb e-waste, but one the United States has refused to ratify, is an international agreement known as the Basel Convention. Since the 1990s, it has restricted trade in hazardous waste by other countries.

Economics is the big player in this drama. According to an October 15, 2008, report in Business Week, in Hong Kong, the e-waste import center of Asia, a container of unprocessed monitors and televisions that sells for $5,000 can net profits of $4,000, according to people familiar with the trade.

The CBS 60 Minutes report “Following the Trail of Toxic E-waste” exposed the truth about Guiyu, China, a city run by people who don’t want to lose the lucrative toxic moneymaker. According to the report, computers are broken up for recycling using the most primitive of methods: bare hands, a coal fire to melt lead solder, and what CBS called a medieval acid recipe to extract gold. Scientists have studied the area and discovered that Guiyu has the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxins in the world.

The workers are peasant farmers who can’t make a living on the land. Destitute, they’ve come by the thousands to earn $8 a day breaking down computers.

According to CNN, some signs of progress are being made, however. Nokia, Philips and Samsung are setting up voluntary collection and recycling systems in countries where they are not legally obliged to. Apple claims its products are now almost entirely free of the worst toxic chemicals.

Information gathered from:
Oct. 15, 2008; Business Week E-Waste:The Dirty Secret of Recycling Electronics.

August 10, 2009; CNN: Sifting through the mounting problem of e-waste.

August 30, 2009; CBS: Following the Trail of Toxic E-Waste.

95% of companies do not recycle computer equipment properly. Contact us. We make recycling your equipment easy.

Equipment we collect:
Phone Systems
PCs
Laptops
Servers
Hard drives
UPSs
Switches, Hubs & Routers
Cell Phones
Electric Motors
Monitors (CRT & LCD)
Televisions
Printers
Copiers
Fax Machines
Office Electronics
Keyboard/Mouse, Calculators
DVD Players
Plastic
Copper
Wire
Brass
Aluminum
Batteries (Lead Acid & Gel Cell as well as Alkaline, Lithium, Nickel Cadmium, Nickel Metal Hydride)

We refurbish or recycle 100% of the computer equipment we collect. Nothing ends up in a landfill.