Weekly eWASA News – 27 Aug 21

“Hazardous Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment” (lamps) and “Lead Acid Batteries” have been prohibited from being disposed to landfill since August 2016 and “Hazardous Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment” (other) is prohibited from being disposed to landfill from August 2021. Read more here. 

THE widely accepted international definition of e-waste is “anything that runs on electricity”. Therefore, e-waste (electronic & electrical waste) includes computers, entertainment electronics, mobile phones, household appliances and less obvious items such as spent fluorescent tubes, batteries and battery-operated toys that have been discarded by their original users. While there is no generally accepted definition of e-waste, in most cases e-waste consists of expensive and more or less durable products used for data processing, telecommunications or entertainment in private households and businesses.

E-waste is both valuable as a source for secondary raw material, and toxic if handled and discarded improperly. Rapid technology change, low initial cost and even planned obsolescence have resulted in a fast-growing problem of stock-piled and mismanaged around the globe. Technical solutions are available but in most cases, a legal framework, a finance model (ideally based on the polluter pays principle) a collection system, logistics and other services need to be implemented before a technical solution can be applied. Read more in CBS.

Federal officials recently examined battery-related fires in a variety of recycling settings, including electronics processing sites. In addition to noting safety concerns, the analysis determined that batteries “jeopardize the economics of the electronics recycling industry.”

The EPA report, published last month, comes as there is heightened attention on lithium-ion battery fires across many sectors of the waste management industry. For the report, EPA researchers examined e-scrap facilities, municipal recycling centers, landfills, transfer stations and other locations.

Similar to recent findings from the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Forum (WEEE Forum), the EPA report offers no simple fixes, but it says existing efforts are not solving the problem and that all stakeholders must coordinate further to reduce the threat. Resource-Recycling has more.

In July, U.S. president Joe Biden issued executive order 14036, which among other things urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address \”unfair anticompetitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair of items.\” That order also tasked the Secretary of Commerce to report on \”a plan for avoiding contract terms in procurement agreements that make it challenging or impossible for the Department of Defense or service members to repair their own equipment, particularly in the field.\”

The notion of soldiers at some far-flung military base unable to fix critical gear because the manufacturer insists that it be sent back to an authorized repair facility is troubling to say the least. So it\’s no wonder that the FTC quickly responded by voting unanimously to reinvigorate its efforts to enforce existing right-to-repair legislation, in line with the stance the agency took in May when it issued a report on the topic, \”Nixing the Fix.\”

The European Commission\’s new Ecodesign Measures, which went into effect in March, grew out of earlier work to improve the energy efficiency of various appliances. In the past, such efforts considered only the energy consumed during operation. But now, Europe\’s regulators are also considering the energy used in fabrication. They do that indirectly, by encouraging manufacturers to make products more durable and easier to repair. Read more on here.