More to do

There's more to do.

Every so often someone sets a TV set or computer monitor or other old piece of electronics in the alley behind my house. Did they put it there in hopes that someone will pick it up to use it? (I found one TV with the remote taped to the top.) Or maybe they really meant to throw it out but couldn't lift it into the big trash cans.

Lots of times this stuff ends up getting rained on, broken, or torn apart, and then it can't be used again. Sometimes the scrap guys that drive down the alley cut off the cords for scrap metal. Either way the equipment gets picked up with the trash collection a few days later.

When it gets closer to an electronics recycling event and I have a few things to take, I start picking up some of this stuff and storing it in my garage (see photo). I figure I'm making the trip anyway.

These events have been going on for several years. There's even a collection site that's open two days a week in my city, and lots of people make use of it. Clearly some people have gotten the message, but many others haven't.

Why aren't people taking advantage of these events.

• Are people uninterested and we're going against the current trying to make change?
• Are they too busy to bother?
• Do they just think recycling isn't worth it? (There has been controversy about the effectiveness of my city's recycling program.)

What do we need to do get people more in tune with electronics recycling?

• better advertising of events?
• outright bans of electronics in landfills?
• waste haulers picking up e-waste?
• reminders about collection events in people's water or garbage bills?

And what if people do show up at the collection events every time they have something to recycle? Will our publicly-funded system be able to cover the costs of recycling all the materials that are brought in?

How can we make this Earth Day message stick with people so that next time they have something that can be recycled, they'll think about recycling it?

We're working with Earth911.org to catalog the events that are in the Earth Day Challenge. Will people remember it and use it as a resource?

One of the states in our Region has a statewide program for recycling electronics . It's been successful; they've collected millions of pounds in about one year. We need programs to cover more states, or even the nation as a whole, so that we can have just one message to get to people, it will be more consistent over time, and they will participate.

More questions than answers here, but it's what I'm thinking about now that the weather is getting better, and my bike is barricaded in the garage behind two cars and two TVs.

Chris Newman works in EPA Region 5's Land and Chemical Division, and deals with issues related to electronic waste, scrap tires, and composting