Earth911, a subsidiary of Quest Resource Holding Corp., Frisco, Texas, and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI),Washington, D.C., have joined forces on a new public awareness initiative called Project Reboot, which is designed to increase and encourage the safe and secure recycling of household electronics.

Project Reboot aims to bring together businesses, corporations and civic groups to educate the public on the need to responsibly recycle electronics. Year-long education efforts will focus not only on the need to recycle electronics but also on the importance of doing so responsibly through a recycler certified to handle electronics at the highest level of environmental, health and worker safety standards and that guarantees secure destruction of all personal data. In addition, there will be an electronics recycling pledge, social media components (including an interactive Facebook page), print materials on how and where to safely recycle, recycling and reuse tips and more.

“People too often clamor for the latest technology with little knowledge of how to responsibly recycle the gadgets they are replacing,” says Robin Wiener, president of ISRI. “The goal of this initiative is to educate people on the environmental, economic and social responsibility of proper electronics recycling and ultimately to increase the rate over the coming year.”

“The ability for consumers to find electronic recycling opportunities in their community are essential to ensure these obsolete devices are properly handled,” says Brian Dick, Earth911 chief executive officer. “Our partnership with ISRI and its membership will help educate consumers and help them locate responsible recyclers in their area. We are excited to assist ISRI to create awareness and provide options to an ever growing industry.”

According to a Harris Interactive survey, nearly 70 percent of American adults have recycled at least one type of small electronic product in the past. Such products include ink or toner cartridges, cell phones, desktop monitors, laptops, printers, computers, keyboards and mice. That still leaves nearly 75 million Americans (31 percent) who have never recycled electronics, primarily because they did not have the information needed to do so, ISRI alleges. This figure includes 39 percent of younger adults ages 18-34 who have never recycled small electronics. Among the reasons given for not recycling (respondents had the option of choosing multiple reasons):

• 26 percent did not know where to recycle electronics;
• 16 percent did not know how to recycle them securely;
• 14 percent did not know their device(s) could be recycled;
• 12 percent thought it was too much trouble to recycle; and
• 6 percent thought the device(s) were supposed to be disposed of in the trash.
  
  

The survey also found that despite the lack of information regarding electronics recycling, 97 percent of American adults would recycle their small electronics.

According to ISRI, Project Reboot’s success will be measured through surveying consumer knowledge and attitudes as well as available statistics on the collection rates of household used electronics.

The Recycling Today Media Group and Media Fusion are hosting three recycling events in early March in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. All three events take place at the JW Marriott Marquis hotel.

Recycling Today Media Group publishes Recycling Today Global Edition magazine, and Media Fusion is the publisher of Waste & Recycling Middle East.

For the third consecutive year, the organizations will host the Paper & Plastics Recycling Middle East conference, geared for paper and plastics collectors, processors, sellers and buyers. The event is set for 4-5 March, 2014.

“It is again our privilege to welcome recyclers and government officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council region and around the world to enjoy Dubai and make new connections that will help them and the industry to prosper,” says Dr. Kayyum Ali, CEO of Media Fusion.

The publishers also will host the Middle East Metals Recycling Conference, which takes place 2-3 March, 2014.

Event sessions will examine global commodity markets for scrap metal, including copper, aluminum, ferrous, stainless steel, precious metal and electronic scrap. Attendees also will receive updates on customs and regulatory issues affecting international trade and benefit from presentations on processing methods and techniques.

“We’re thrilled to cooperate with the team at Waste & Recycling Middle East to again offer this event for the active metals recycling and trading community in the Middle East,” says Jim Keefe, group publisher of the Recycling Today Media Group.

Both conferences feature exhibit areas and networking opportunities in addition to conference presentations and interactive discussions.

New for 2014 is the End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Workshop, which takes place the afternoon of 3 March. This half-day event is designed to provide local insights in a global context on the ELV recycling process as it relates to auto salvage and scrap metal professionals, vehicle manufacturers and battery and component suppliers to the auto repair sector.

Complete conference details are available at the event websites at http://middleeast.paperrecyclingconference.com and www.metalsrecyclingme.com.

NSF Sustainability, a division of NSF International, Ann Arbor, Mich., has partnered with Sustainable Waste Solutions, Antioch, Calif., to provide companies with a landfill-free verification system. The two firms say they are able to assess companies to document that all wastes generated are reused, recycled or processed as waste to energy.

NSF International bills itself as an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides standards development, product certification, auditing, education and risk management for public health and the environment. Sustainable Waste Solutions says it provides a range of reuse, recycling and waste services to its customers.

NSF International’s landfill-free verification “enables companies to demonstrate that less than one percent of their process waste goes to landfill for disposal and that they have documented waste management procedures and trainings in place,” says NSF.

Qualifying for NSF landfill-free verification requires the following:

• retaining documentation and tracking all waste streams;
• maintaining containers to manage waste;
• establishing a program for electronic waste management;
• employee and contracting training; and
• audits of the facility to ensure these procedures are in place.

“Providing companies with waste management solutions will supply additional credibility and transparency to their landfill-free claims while helping to protect the environment for future generations,” says Tom Bruursema, general manager of NSF International’s Sustainability Division. “We look forward to working with Sustainable Waste Solutions to recognize more organizations’ responsible waste management achievements.”

“Having provided landfill-free services to our customers for a number of years, partnering with NSF is a natural progression for us,” says Randy Hendricks, CEO of Sustainable Waste Solutions. “Our customers will have easy access to third-party verification of their landfill-free claims. We look forward to working with NSF as we make more businesses landfill-free.”