Best Buy, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba America are some of the well-known electronics companies that are participating in pushing recycling of their products forward.
Since the electronics industry got together to promote recycling a year ago, consumer electronics recycling has jumped 53%, according to its trade association, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
460 million pounds of consumer electronics were collected, compared with 300 million pounds recycled in 2010.
Electronics manufacturers and retailers increased the number of recycling drop-off locations nationwide to nearly 7,500 from over 5,000 a year ago.
The goal of the eCycling Leadership Initiative is to recycle one billion pounds of electronics a year by 2016 – enough to fill a 71,000 seat stadium annually – triple the amount recovered in 2010.
It’s a partnership among consumer electronics manufacturers, retailers, collectors, recyclers, non-governmental organizations and governments at all levels.
“The billion pound challenge is about both the quality and quantity of electronics recycling,” says Walter Alcorn, CEA’s vice president of environmental affairs and industry sustainability. “But we won’t stop at a billion pounds. The eCycling Leadership initiative is an ongoing, permanent initiative that will follow the best practices and commitment of industry, including practices that prohibit the use of recyclers and downstream processors who dump end-of-life electronics in developing nations.”
Source: SustainableBusiness.com