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EPA UNVEILS FINDINGS OF SOMERVILLE RECYCLING STUDY

Release Date: 02/26/1998
Contact Information: Leo Kay, Press Office, (617) 918-4154

BOSTON - A two-year project recently completed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recycled more than 32,000 lbs. of obsolete electronic equipment from Somerville, Mass. and Binghamton, N.Y. that would have otherwise been sent to the community landfill.

Nearly 95 percent of the materials that were collected during two pickup days - each city held pickups in the Fall of 1996 and the Spring of 1997 - ended up being reused or recycled.

Most of the 1,852 items picked up were televisions, computers and monitors, and portable audio equipment. Much of the equipment contained toxic constituents such as lead, cadmium and alkaline batteries that could have posed a health threat to workers and the environment had it been disposed of in a landfill.

"This project proves that we can substantially reduce the amount of materials that we deposit into our already overburdened landfills by taking a closer look at what is recyclable," said John P. DeVillars, administrator of the EPA's New England office. "As technology continues to advance, we are going to be left with more and more electronics equipment that is outdated and, thus, ready for the trash in most peoples' eyes."

Metals and plastic combined accounted for over 82 percent of the collected materials. All metals were sent to a local scrap dealer for shredding and reclamation through various smelting processes. Much of the plastic was sent to a plastics recycler for grinding to meet specifications for recycled feedstock.

All of the other materials were recycled and marketed with the exception of the wood. In addition, 1,069 pounds of computer equipment collected from the second Somerville collection was resold in the same condition that it was collected in.

Due to the success of the pilot project, both communities will continue to expand the program in the coming years.

As part of its "Common Sense Initiative," the EPA launched the pilot project two years ago to characterize the types and measure the volumes of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment in the municipal waste stream; assess the economic viability of collecting, transporting, demanufacturing and recycling such equipment; and, gauge residential consumers willingness to help offset the costs of collecting and recycling electrical and electronic equipment.

The pilot program exceeded the costs of handling typical wastes such as trash or traditional recyclables. However, diverting any commodity from the municipal waste stream has not become economical until a recovery, reuse/recycling infrastructure has developed for that commodity. Envirocycle, Inc. -- the company that transported, demanufactured, recycled and disposed of the end-of-life equipment at its plant in Hallstead, Penn. -- has agreed to work with Somerville and Binghamton to modify the collection model and strategy to collect, transport and demanufacture old electronic equipment more efficiently.

The two communities were chosen for the study based on their similar demographics in terms of population, per capita income, state and local tax burden and weekly curbside pickup of trash and recyclables.