Electronics Recycling Conference: Building Awareness

Some of the biggest companies in the electronics industry were represented at the session entitled “Playing in the Major Leagues.”

Representatives from both Waste Management Recycle America (WM) and Sony talked about their joint program Sony Take Back. Joe Aho from Waste Management Recycle America said there are 132 locations that accept Sony branded material at no cost, and the network was increasing. Sony’s goal is that for every pound of electronics that Sony sells it can collect one pound of obsolete material, Aho said.

Aho said events are a great way to get the message out and build awareness about electronics recycling. WM held an event in Minnesota at five different locations and were able to collect 4 million pounds of electronics.

Sony saw this partnership as a way to reach out to future customers, conserve raw materials and offset mining and byproducts disposal costs, according to Doug Smith, Sony Electronics Inc., San Diego. The program accepts all Sony products at no cost, but Smith also clarified other electronics are accepted for a small price.

David Thompson from Panasonic Corp., Secaucus, N.J., also discussed the importance of providing people with the opportunity to recycle conveniently. In 1993 Thompson helped Panasonic establish the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Program. The company is also a founding member of the Plug in to E-cycling program, which has held 1,500-plus events since 2002.

Dell Inc. representative Joe Strathmann described his company’s take back program, which includes a commercial and consumer program. On the commercial side, Dell offers asset removal/logistics, audit sort/data destruction and disposition options. For consumers it offers free branded mail back, free recycling with the purchase of a Dell product and also donations to Goodwill.

Recycling Today’s 2008 June Conferences were held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare June 22-24. Next year’s conferences will be June 7-9 in Atlanta.