Keeping Computers Out of Landfills

When Orange County workers cranked up a one-day recycling center for used computer gear last week in Chapel Hill, they took the measure of a critical trash disposal challenge facing the state.

By the time 362 people finished carrying in their outdated IBMs, Macs and computer printers, they had left behind 16.5 tons of potentially toxic waste in eight hours.

The good news is that none of it will end up in the local landfill. But there's more unwanted computer equipment stashed in homes all over the Triangle that will need disposing one day. And if no one diverts it somewhere safe, it could end up in dumps.

"This is a problem that's bigger than us," said Rob Taylor, an Orange County recycling coordinator who organized the drop-off. "If we want to keep it out of the landfill, it's going to cost money. The question is, 'Where is that money going to come from?' "

Consensus is growing that it's time to clean up after the electronic buying frenzy that gripped so many over the past decade. The trash left behind isn't always benign, say state and local solid waste officials. And local governments don't always have the cash to manage new hazardous waste streams.

Many back a bill introduced in the legislature that would impose a $10 disposal tax on buyers of new computers and TV sets, most of which contain cathode ray tubes (CRTs), to cover the cost of discarding electronic garbage safely.

While the environmental risks of mercury in laptops and cadmium and lead in circuit boards are under study, federal and state environmental regulators agree that CRTs are hazardous. Lead in the glass could leach out of landfills or further pollute waters pumped from dumps for treatment.

State environmental officials have estimated that North Carolina households owned about 7.6 million working devices containing CRTs in 2000. And, of course, people keep all kinds of obsolete or simply older stuff stashed in attics and closets.

"A lot of people turn over computers every three or five years. They pay so much for them, it's hard to think of them as worthless. A lot of computers are in storage," said James L. Hickman, a waste management analyst with the state division of pollution prevention and environmental assistance.

Following the lead of states such as Massachusetts and California, the North Carolina bill would ban households from disposing of CRTs in landfills and incinerators by 2006. Federal rules increasingly enforced in North Carolina already ban CRT dumping by businesses. The proposed measure would also help finance government and commercial recycling programs. And it would educate the public about how to choose less toxic equipment.

Environmental groups, such as the N.C. Conservation Council, and many recycling and solid waste officials favor the proposed statute. But the N.C. Retailers Association, which says North Carolina would be the first state to impose such a tax, says the money should be found elsewhere, possibly by raising the fees for local trash pickup.

"It's never fun to be the state tax collector," said Fran E. Preston, association president, adding that the imposition of such a tax could prompt more Internet shopping.

With the budget crisis overshadowing other issues on Jones Street, few expect final action on the bill this summer. But most everyone watching discussions surrounding it says that some form of government action is likely, maybe as soon as next year.

"There's too much energy. People are looking for the most workable way," said Rep. Jennifer Weiss, a Cary Democrat who is among the bill's co-sponsors. "We're facing a ticking time bomb."

Policy-makers and recycling experts hope the electronics industry one day will make fewer hazardous goods for sale. They say that flat computer screens, which do not have CRTs, are one promising advance but that more measures are needed.

So Triangle solid waste programs recently stepped up efforts to recycle rather than dump household electronic waste. Raleigh and Cary are picking up computers at people's houses to keep them out of the trash bins. Durham is beginning to accept them at its household hazardous waste drop-off programs.

Wake County accepts computer equipment at a recycling center next to its 300-acre Durant Road landfill, the same place it accepts tires, appliances, scrap metal, cardboard and used motor oil. Since September 2001, Wake has accepted 270 tons of monitors, processing units, printers, keyboards and computer mice.

This is not a profit-making enterprise. Most communities depend on a mix of charities and recycling companies to take electronic equipment off their hands. The companies can make a profit selling working equipment or by stripping precious metals such as gold from motherboards, heat sinks and other computer innards.

Still, public agencies must pay private contractors to take away the stuff charities don't want, said Jim Reynolds, Wake County's solid waste director. Wake spends $87,000 a year to keep such materials out of its dump.

"Not a whole lot of people are clamoring to get their hands on this stuff -- yet," Reynolds said. – The (Raleigh, N.C.) News Observer