IST 605: [NEW] Educating NYS Consumers About Electronic Waste and Options for Recycling Internal Discussion Board

This 2025 article from the academic and peer-reviewed journal, Dental Science and Innovative Research, provides an overview of the existing law and enforcement structure as it pertains to hazardous e-waste in Bangladesh. It also examines public awareness of the issue by including results of a survey given to Bangladesh citizens, asking their knowledge of the existence of recycling centers, regulations governing e-waste and their opinion on need for more laws addressing this issue. According to the survey results, the majority of respondents did not know about the existence of local recycling centers or about regulations on e-waste locally or globally. In addition, only 10% would support laws that require manufacturer responsibility for e-waste management. The author notes that Bangladesh Hazardous E-Waste Management rules implemented in 2021 are not well enforced, which allows for uncontrolled open burning and acid leaching practices. She also discusses the "Extended Producer Responsibility" (EPR) framework of laws in New York State and California and suggests the adoption of similar policies in Bangladesh. "EPR" laws require manufacturers to provide product recycling options to consumers.

This 2017 article is from the academic, peer-reviewed journal entitled Resources, Conservation, and Recycling. This article reviews statistics on global e-waste generation, and examines the economic and environmental benefits of proper e-waste recycling. There is also a discussion of common e-waste techniques employed in developing countries such as disposal with regular household waste, informal sorting and handling by unskilled workers (which could involve burning or chemical separation as well as manual separation). Various e-waste processing methods used frequently in formal recycling facilities in industrialized nations such as magnetic and density separation, pyrometallurgy and biometallurgy are discussed. The authors also examine global laws and policies relevant to e-waste management and propose methods to estimate future e-waste generation and collection.

This 2021 article is from the academic peer-reviewed publication, the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. This article primarily examines differences among e-waste recycling laws that exist in 25 different US states. The authors also touch upon the lack of international and national laws or regulations governing e-waste management in the US. As the authors note, the Basel Convention, an international treaty intended to regulate transboundary movement of hazardous waste, has yet to be signed or ratified by the US. Similarly, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which gives the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) power to restrict storage and disposal of "hazardous waste", does not classify most e-waste as "hazardous"., with the exception of cathode ray tubes (from TV's and monitors), which contain lead. The articles indicates that almost all of 25 states with e-waste laws are based on the "Extended Producer Responsibility" model that requires manufacturers to set-up an e-recycling program with individual states. The authors note that most states have different regulations governing the type of electronic equipment covered, fees charged, performance standards, agencies in charge of enforcement, public education requirements and more. In conclusion, it is suggested that federal legislation that is uniformly enforced among states would make it easier for manufacturers, recyclers and consumers to understand and comply with e-recycling policies.

This brief report by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) was published in 2020. It provides an overview of the current state of e-waste generation and e-waste management processes such as separation technologies. The report also highlights the need to recycle rare earth metals such as gold and platinum, present in many electronics, but declining in nature. The environmental and economic benefits of e-waste recycling are addressed as well as obstacles to implementation. These include the need to destroy personal identifiable information in devices and the inability of recycling technologies to keep up with the development of new and smaller devices.

This 2011 Report was produced by an Interagency Task Force composed of representatives from the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the General Services Administration. This report recognizes the negative environmental and health impacts associated with improper disposal and processing of e-waste and outlines a series of goals and recommendations to ensure better management. These include creating incentives for better design of greener electronics, implementing a comprehensive policy for recycling of used federally owned electronics, providing guidance to electronics recycling employers to maximize safety and health and to improve safe handling of used electronics in developing countries.

This webpage has a section on "electronics stewardship", which recommends viewing the life cycle of electronics as circular, whereby raw materials that can be used in creation of new products are recovered and reused at the end of life stage. The section also advocates adoption of the "3 R's" approach by industry and consumers, involving reducing the amount of materials used in products, and arranging for used electronics to be either reused, refurbished or recycled.

This webpage has less information than the section on "Sustainable Management of Electronics and Batteries" but emphasizes the benefits of electronics recycling, namely conserving natural resources and decreasing pollution. In this section they also recommend that people delete all personal information and remove batteries from device before recycling or donating electronics, and consider upgrading software or hardware before buying new products. They also provide links to several organizations that have information on options for recycling electronics including Call2Recycle, Greener Gadgets and Earth911.