Final Report on eCycling - a Mid-Atlantic States Electronics Recycling Pilot Project sponsored by EPA Region 3

In 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region, and the environmental agencies of the Mid-Atlantic States (Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia (DC) joined forces with electronics manufacturers to find a sustainable approach to remove end-of-life computers and televisions from the municipal waste stream. Through the Region 3 "eCycling" Pilot, government and industry collaborated to demonstrate the feasibility of a multi-State, public/private, residential electronics collection, reuse, and recycling program that is based on a model of shared responsibility among government, industry, and consumers.

This pilot was the first, and remains the only multi-State electronics collection and recycling effort to receive widespread support from the major players within the electronics industry, and from state and local government. The pilot was very successful in leveraging approximately $1.1 million in funding primarily from State and local government, and resulted in the following accomplishments:

58 residential collection events held throughout Region 3; 9 permanent collection programs started; Over 2,700 tons of end-of-life electronics diverted from the municipal waste stream and recycled; and More than 26,000 cathode ray tubes (CRTs) collected and recycled.

Although the collection numbers are impressive, the best results of the pilot are that it demonstrated that:

Six states can collaborate effectively to provide regulatory flexibility across a large, multi-jurisdictional area; Recycling markets will develop to manage the increasing supply of materials in an environmentally sound manner; Permanent collections sites have proven to be the most cost effective method to collect materials; EPA, State governments, electronic manufacturers/retailers, and recyclers can develop partnerships to address challenging environmental issues; Third party organizations are very important in helping to deploy funds from the private sector; and An effort grounded on shared responsibility, and robust outreach to local government and consumers can work very well.

To learn more, please go to the final eCycling Report on the EPA Region 3 website at http://www.epa.gov/reg3wcmd/eCycling.htm