New York's E-Waste Diversion Exceeded Half-A-Billion Pounds

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Electronic Waste Recycling Report published by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) indicates that the State has collected and recycled 520 million pounds of electronic waste, which otherwise would have ended up in landfills and combustion sites. DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos attributed the increased collection rate during 2011 to 2016 to the implementation of the New York State Electronic Equipment Recycling and Reuse Act, which had taken full effect in April 2011.

The report, which builds on the data in the initial report, provides detailed information with respect to implementation of the Act during 2013, 2014 and 2015. During this period, the State diverted nearly 300 million pounds of e-waste from the waste stream.

In 2013, collection and recycling of all covered electronic equipment (CEE) showed improvement over the previous year. During the year, manufacturers exceeded the state-wide goal of 98 million pounds by collecting additional 1.6 million pounds of e-waste for recycling or reuse. Also, more than 90% of the manufacturers either met or exceeded their individual goals.

The e-waste collection for recycling or reuse fell short of the state-wide goal of 94 million pounds in 2014, partly due to amendment of existing formula used in the calculation of state-wide goal. More than 90% of the manufacturers met or exceeded individual collection targets during the year, according to the report.

In 2015, the State reported the highest collection since the implementation of the Act. The total collection surged to nearly 101 million pounds, thereby exceeding the goal of 97 million pounds by almost 4 million pounds. Nearly 90% of manufacturers either met or exceeded their individual collection targets during the year.

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By region, the collection results remained more or less consistent during the six-year period from 2011 to 2016. The most weight was accepted from consumers in western New York region. The least weight in collection was reported by New York City region comprising of Kings, Bronx, New York, Queens and Richmond counties.

By type of collected CEE, Televisions and Computer Peripherals comprising of comparatively heavy CRT monitors and CRT televisions continued to lead. Televisions, which represented over 46% of the total weight in 2013 has dropped to under 40% in 2015. Also, the weight of computer peripherals has dropped from 30.0% of the total weight in 2014 to just over 26% in 2015.