New law powers Lebanon County's effort to recycle electronic waste – PennLive
Ridding basements and garages of unwanted electronics is going to be easier for area residents, thanks in part to a new state law that requires manufacturers to recycle.
For the first time, Lebanon County residents have a free drop-off site for electronics such as TVs and computers at Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority landfill, which opened Jan. 16.
Dauphin County already has free electronics recycling for its residents at the incinerator, and Cumberland, Perry and York counties are exploring ways to offer electronics recycling programs.
Spurring the expansion of drop-off centers is the Covered Device Recycling Act’s requirement that starting Jan. 1, manufacturers have to provide free recycling of electronics. Beginning in 2013, no electronics such as computers and TVs will be allowed in landfills.
The Lebanon County landfill decided to start its free electronics drop-off program a year before the materials are banned from the landfill to work out any bugs in the program, recycling coordinator Amy Mazella di Bosco said.
Haulers have been told GLRA doesn’t want electronics going in the landfill now that a drop-off center is in place, Mazella di Bosco said.
GLRA will be paid for the recyclables under its new contract with eLoop, a Pittsburgh-based company. “Because of this law, we will be getting a small rebate for the e-waste,” she said.
For example, the authority will be paid 30 cents a pound for computer processing units, 4 cents per pound for TVs and monitors, and 1 cent a pound for peripherals such as keyboards and mice.
While it might not pay all of the authority’s expenses, Mazella di Bosco said it will reduce the $100,000 the authority paid for the home household waste and electronics pickup program, of which 50 percent to 60 percent was for electronics.
The home electronics recycling pickup that GLRA had provided for a $15 fee will be discontinued when the current contract expires in August, but it will still be in place for household hazardous waste pickup.
She believes the drop-off program will be highly used by the public to get rid of unwanted electronics. “This is a learning curve for all of us. Hopefully it will regulate out,” she said.
While there isn’t a restriction on the number of devices that will be accepted, truckloads from businesses or organizations won’t be accepted for drop-off. For the latter, she said they are asked to call GLRA to make other arrangements.
The main cost of the program for GLRA is labor, which she estimated at $25,000 for two part-time workers who have been hired. An old maintenance building is being renovated to house the recyclables, which will be packaged until there is a tractor-trailer load, which eLoop will pick up.
Ned Eldridge, president of eLoop, said his company is certified as the recycler in Pennsylvania for a consortium representing 35 manufacturers.
Last year eLoop diverted 2 million pounds of electronics from landfills through 32 drop-off sites, Eldridge said. When several additional sites are added from Centre County to south-central Pennsylvania, he expects the amount to increase to 10 million to 12 million pounds.
“We are creating green jobs in Pennsylvania and keeping most of the materials here so we can continue to process them into commodity grade materials that can be sold,” he said.
ELoop works with processors who remove the recyclable metals and other materials, and also works with companies that refurbish and resell some equipment.
Dauphin County has had its free electronics drop-off for county residents since 2009. The program was open to residents of other counties for a per-item fee.
Until the new law is clarified, the fee is not being charged, said Matt Davies, acting recycling coordinator. He believes the fee will be eliminated when the landfill is no longer charged by the company that picks up the e-waste.
Dauphin County contracts with Eco International from upstate New York to process its electronics. As a new contract is negotiated, the company will likely begin paying the county a stipend, based on changes in commodities prices, Davies said.
Dauphin County ships out about 20,000 pounds of electronics recyclables every two weeks, Davies said, about 98 percent of which is from the county.
“It’s a pretty consistent flow. We expect it to be reduced at some point, but there seems to be a bottomless pit of this stuff,” he said.
DETAILS
The state Covered Device Recycling Act 108 of 2010 requires manufacturers to provide recycling programs for desktop computers, laptop computers, computer monitors, computer peripherals and televisions sold to consumers in Pennsylvania. Starting Jan. 24, 2013, these materials are prohibited from landfills.
Î Statewide: www.depweb.state.pa.us.
Î Dauphin County — 1620 S. 19th St., Harrisburg; 717-982-6772, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; 8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Wednesday; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
Î Lebanon County — Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority, 1610 Russell Road, North Annville Twp.; 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. weekdays and 8:30-11:30 a.m. Saturdays; 717-867-5790.
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