Electronics Stewardship
2003 Mid-Atlantic Premier Pollution Prevention Conference
January 30, 2003
Baltimore, Maryland

Thank you, Natalie, for that kind introduction and for inviting me to speak here.

You have done a great job at NPPR, and everyone here will miss you - but we know you'll do a great job as the new deputy director at ECOS.

We're all here at this conference to focus our energies on how to be better stewards of electronics.

The use of electronics will only substantially increase in our lifetimes. Some might get smaller, like PCs, laptops, and phones - while others will only get bigger, like TV screens. But there will be more of them.

The worldwide revolution in electronics in the last decade not only has impacted our economy, but it also has offered us environmental benefits.

Quicker and easier information exchange across wires and through space reduces our need to move people, products, and information by conventional means - which cuts down on traffic congestion, saves energy, and reduces pollution. Soon, chips will be installed in products to tell us what's in them, how they can be repaired, and how best to manage them. And advanced super computers are helping us understand our environment better so we can reduce our impact on it and correct problems that seem unsolvable today.

But electronics also pose some serious environmental risks and challenges.

You've heard the story and the numbers before. By 2005, we'll be throwing away 130 million cell phones each year. 250 million computers could be obsolete by 2005. Last year more computers became obsolete than were sold.

But it's not just the mass of products discarded that threatens our future - it's also their toxicity - lead, mercury, chromium, and more.

How are we going to address this?

I'm interested in this issue not only as a consumer of cell phones, computers, TVs, DVD players, and CD players, but also because, as a representative of the Federal government, the world's largest consumer - purchasing approximately $38 billion each year in electronics, and growing - we have a huge opportunity - and responsibility - to provide leadership in environmentally sound practices and cost effective, life-cycle management of our electronic assets.

I see the Federal government taking a leadership role with electronics, just as it has with P2 in other areas - recognizing that this issue ranges from the product's design and manufacture, through its use and reuse, through recycling, and on to its ultimate disposition.

Just as you have talked about in the Roundtable before, P2 is an important step but sustainability is the real goal. I don't have a silver bullet. But I do know we all need to tackle this - promptly - together - and comprehensively.

What's the federal government doing now?

The first step we're taking is to get a better handle on what is already going on within the federal government. To some of you that may sound like common sense - but it is not necessarily the federal government's modus operandi.

It took a few months, but now we know what all the different parts of EPA are doing - and we've even boiled it down to a nice one-page chart. You'll be hearing more about the details of this chart throughout the conference.

We also have sent out surveys to various agencies and facilities across the country to see what they're doing, what they're buying, and what they might be interested in and able to do.

We know already that through research and development programs, procurement policies, grants to communities for collection drives, creative individuals, and more, the federal government is working at each stage of the products' life cycle to find improvements.

Design

The first step is the product's design. Can a product from its inception be created to have less of an environmental impact on the environment throughout its life, and still meet its maker's and consumers' cost and performance demands? The goal is to reduce toxicity, to reduce energy use, to streamline product weight and materials, identify opportunities for easier reuse, and more.

EPA's Design for the Environment Program is working with the electronics industry and others to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impacts of lead-free solders. We expect to see the study's results published this summer.

EPA's west coast offices are taking a special interest in encouraging the "greener" design of electronics. They're participating in the Western Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (WEPSI), and they're developing tools and metrics to assess the environmental impacts of electronic products and allow consumers to more easily purchase environmentally preferable electronic products.

EPA Region 9 also is working with the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, which has partnered with the Industrial Designers Society of America to find ways of promoting greener designer and provide product stewardship training.

EPA and DOE continue to work with electronics manufacturers to improve the energy efficiency of electronics through R&D and such successful programs as Energy Star.

And, under President Bush's Executive Order 13221, DOE, GSA, DLA and others are working with office, video, and audio product makers to design and make products that use minimal standby power. Dell, for example, has now committed to designing its mainstream desktop computers to consume less than 1 watt in standby power. With these new products, DOE estimates that U.S. consumers alone will save more than $500 million in annual energy costs over the next six years - enough energy to power approximately 630,000 homes for one year. FEMP's website has the latest information on these products.

Green Purchasing

One of the biggest roles for my office is to help promote the purchasing of green products throughout the federal government. Traditionally, we have focused on recycled-content products. We're now not only branching out to address such items as biobased products, but we're also working to better integrate the various green products into a more strategic package.

Today, the various agencies and programs all promote their own particular product category, and we don't do enough sharing of successes, joint marketing, consumer education, and development of best practices. So we're working to bring energy efficiency, biobased, recycled content, and environmentally preferable products, as well as cleaner fuels and fleets, together with actual buyers to see what we can do to be more effective. And electronics are part of this mix.

For example, EPA Region 1 has funded the Product Stewardship Institute's development of a guide for government agencies to purchase more environmentally preferable computers. And through this and other partnerships, we hope to offer additional guidance and contract specification language in the future. Regions 4 and 5 are working with University of Florida to assess the true environmental impacts of circuit boards and CRTs. Regions 9 and 10 are working with recyclers, manufacturers, and all levels of government to develop market-based incentives for environmentally sound recycling, product stewardship and greener product design.

Use

We're working on how to better use our electronics. I mentioned common sense a minute ago. Part of my job is to ask some common sense questions.

Computer monitors alone use over 60% of a computer system's energy. By enabling the Energy Star features on a monitor, using a dark screen saver, and turning off a monitor during long periods of non-use, you can reduce this amount of energy significantly.

So, with the requirement in place under Executive Order 13123 that the federal government buy Energy Star equipment, I asked, are we actually using the Energy Star functions our computers have? Unfortunately, we're generally not.

DOE then showed us some new software they had developed to address this issue systematically - so we don't have to do this monitor by monitor. The Department of the Interior has just used this software to upgrade all its computers to ensure that the Energy Star features for the monitors are activated. Once we've evaluated the installation, we'll work to get this to all the agencies - and to you.

Reuse and Recycling

Another important issue is the reuse of electronics. Like other Government-owned property, Federal electronics equipment must first be offered to other activities within an agency before being determined excess to that agency.

Under Executive Order 12999, though, at this point, agencies can directly transfer excess and surplus computer equipment to schools and educational nonprofit organizations. When an agency has determined that no eligible recipient needs its excess computer equipment, it is then available to other agencies or to states.

We want to ensure the maximum useful life for Federally owned electronics equipment. Reuse is always our first option, whether within the agency or by another entity. Even when products are excessed, they are usually sent through a reuse screening first.

E-Cycling

EPA is funding innovative projects, particularly here in Region 3, to increase electronics reuse and recycling. Already, through partnerships with Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and DC, they have collected over 2100 tons of used electronics and prevented more than 21,000 CRTs from going into regional landfills and incinerators.

Government and industry have shared the cost to collect, transport, and process the equipment collected during these special e-Cycling events. And in DC, on America Recycles Day 2002, our office, EPA, the DC government, and other public and private partners collected more than 30 tons of old electronic equipment on the grounds of the Washington Monument

Plug-In to Recycling

Just a couple weeks ago, EPA kicked off a new campaign, "Plug-In to Recycling," to put some advertising and education behind its efforts to increase the amount of electronics that are safely collected and recycled nationwide. This is a part of EPA's larger Resource Conservation Challenge, which EPA launched last fall to raise the overall national recycling rate to 35 percent, and cut by 50 percent the generation of 30 different chemicals - all by 2005.

EPA, working with manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, local governments, states, trade associations, and non-profits, will bring their resources together to tell Americans why they should recycle/reuse their obsolete electronics. In partnership with the National Recycling Coalition, EPA is launching a new web site, www.plugintorecycling.org, to help people find out where to take their old electronics for recycling and reuse. This campaign is expected to also give a boost to anyone considering setting up a collection center. This initiative will be in full force by Earth Day of this year.

Other Federal Agencies

Other federal agencies are working to ensure reuse, recycling, and proper disposal.

The Department of Defense, through its Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, awarded a contract in 1998 for electronic equipment demanufacturing to assure compliant disposal of its electronics - to meet DoD's security requirements - and to maximize the return to DoD on the resulting precious and valuable metals and other recyclable materials.

DoD, through its National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence and its contractor, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, are operating the "DEER2 project," which encourages electronic equipment reuse and recycling by developing, demonstrating, and validating emerging technologies for equipment demanufacturing.

The US Postal Service partners with Per Scholas in New York City, a non-profit computer demanufacturer and recycler. Postal Service vehicles transport the computers to Per Scholas for reconditioning and then distribute refurbished units to families without computers.

The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Lab has funded grants in East Tennessee to research better methods for recycling glass and plastics. They also established an electronics recycling pilot project so DOE could recycle its own electronics.

Disposition

Someday, thanks to improving the design of these products, we'll just continue to reuse them and simply repeat the sustainability circle. But for now, these products have an end of life, and so we have to properly deal with their disposition.

Much of the current thinking and work on electronics involves discouraging disposal of certain materials, which hopefully reaches back and changes the product's design. For example, both California and Massachusetts have banned the landfilling of CRTs - and EPA has now proposed to clarify its waste disposal rules to encourage the recycling of CRTs. EPA also is working with the University of Florida to determine if other electronic equipment can be characterized as hazardous. The NEPSI process and California and some others are exploring setting a recycling fee payable at the time of purchase of certain electronics to ensure proper disposal.

Federal Electronics Challenge

So that's where we are today. In a few months, we will be better equipped with a baseline set of information about who is doing what.

We will then be bringing together key players within the federal agencies - and key stakeholders - to continue to develop a Federal Electronics Challenge - a plan for how we will improve the federal government's life-cycle management of electronics.

We envision the Challenge as a comprehensive effort to assist federal agencies in purchasing greener electronic products, managing their electronic assets in an environmentally sound manner, receiving technical assistance to implement best practices, and gaining recognition for their efforts.

As we develop this Challenge, we will continue to work to fulfill these three objectives:

1. Seek partnering opportunities with manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, and other stakeholders, to develop and implement better life cycle management practices for electronic equipment;

2. Work hard to keep obsolete electronics out of the waste stream and support the growth of the infrastructure necessary for the reuse and recycling of these products; and

3. Use the Government's purchasing power to increase the demand for environmentally responsible electronic products and services to reduce their energy and environmental impacts.

We're looking for good ideas and people willing to help implement them.

Thank you all in Region 3 for your leadership on this issue - within the federal government, your states, and your communities - and I hope you'll join us in working together to meet this challenge.

Thank you.