United States | The recycling of electronics is growing at a healthy rate in the USA, according to latest information from the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER).
The organisation publishes a per capita collection index (PCCI) measuring the volumes of used electronic equipment collected in six programmes across the country. And the data now available for last year show a PCCI value 7% higher than that of the previous year.
'We have been gathering these numbers from the same collection programmes for the last three years in order to measure the overall trends,' explains NCER’s Executive Director Jason Linnell. ‘As anyone who runs electronics collection programmes will tell you, volumes are increasing. Our PCCI indicates a 23% increase in pounds collected from 2006 to 2008. This suggests that consumers with access to these recycling programmes are participating in increasing numbers and volumes.’ These collection rates should continue to increase ‘as consumers become more aware of options for recycling electronics through industry voluntary and state-mandated programmes’, he adds.
At the US Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries’ recent Electronics Recycling Summit in Las Vegas, it was noted that 18 of America’s states and one major city now have mandatory electronics recycling laws in place covering slightly more than half of the US population.
Acknowledgement
www.electronicsrecycling.org
www.recyclinginternational.com
