The Obama Administration has released its “National Strategy for Electronics Stewardship,” an approach to the responsible design, purchasing, management and recycling of electronics that is designed to promote the electronics recycling market and jobs in the country. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, General Services Administrator (GSA) Martha N. Johnson and White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley were joined by the CEOs of Dell Inc. and Sprint and senior executives from Sony Electronics for the announcement.
The announcement was made in mid-July in Austin, Texas, and included the first voluntary commitments made by Dell, Sprint and Sony to the EPA’s industry partnership designed to promote environmentally sound management of used electronics. The administration’s strategy also commits the federal government to taking specific actions to encourage environmentally friendly design of electronic products, promote recycling of used or discarded electronics and advance a domestic market for electronics recycling to protect public health and create jobs.
The responsible management of electronics provides an opportunity to create economic development and jobs by developing a strong domestic electronics recycling market while preventing pollution at home and abroad, according to a press release issued by the GSA.
As outlined in the strategy report, the federal government will:
• Promote the development of more efficient and sustainable electronic products;
• Direct federal agencies to buy, use, re-use and recycle their electronics responsibly;
• Support recycling options and systems for American consumers; and
• Strengthen America’s role in the international electronics stewardship arena.
Under the strategy, the GSA will remove products that do not comply with energy-efficiency or environmental performance standards from its information technology purchase contracts used by federal agencies and will ensure that all electronics used by the federal government are re-used or recycled properly. In addition, EPA and GSA will promote development of new environmental performance standards for categories of electronic products not covered by current standards. Several federal agencies will work together to identify methods for tracking used electronics in federal agencies to move toward re-use and recycling, the GSA says.
A key component of this strategy includes using certified recyclers and increasing safe and effective management and handling of used electronics in the United States, working with industry in a collaborative manner to achieve that goal. As a first step in this effort, EPA Administrator Jackson has signed a voluntary commitment with Dell Inc. CEO Michael Dell and Sprint CEO Dan Hesse to promote a U.S. based electronics recycling market. Sony Electronics Inc. representatives also have committed to improving the safe management of used electronics.
This collaboration with industry aims to encourage businesses and consumers to recycle their electronics with certified recyclers and for electronic recyclers to become certified.
“Through a strong federal partnership and coordination with manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, state and local governments and other stakeholders, the actions outlined here will help address the potential health and environmental problems caused by the mismanagement of discarded electronics,” Sutley said at the time of the announcement. “This strategy will encourage the recycling of these valuable resources and allow the U.S. to take advantage of the economic opportunities of remanufacturing and create jobs of the future here in America.”
Jackson added, “A robust electronics recycling industry in America would create new opportunities to efficiently and profitably address a growing pollution threat. The participation of industry leaders like Dell, Sprint and Sony is absolutely essential to this effort and will help ensure that the work of the federal government—the largest electronics consumer around—is protecting our people from pollution at the same time we support savings and job creation through e-cycling and re-use of valuable materials.”
More information on the GSA’s electronic stewardship goals and promotion of the federal agencies’ purchasing environmentally preferable products is available at www.gsa.gov/portal/content/234565.
More information on the EPA and industry collaboration is available at www.epa.gov/electronicsstrategy.