Getting the Lead Out

New Online Resource Helps Reduce Toxic Materials in Landfills

If you want to get rid of an old computer, VCR, or video game system, and don’t want to dump it in an landfill, where it can leach lead, mercury, and other toxins, then check out Use It Again, PA!, a new online resource center for electronics reuse and recycling. Use It Again, PA!, located at www.useitagainpa.org, is a searchable guide to businesses that rent, repair, or sell used electronics statewide.

The billions of pounds of electronic waste, or “e-waste,” that will end up in landfills and incinerators over the next few years poses a serious threat to the environment and public health, says the Clean Air Council, a statewide environmental organization.

“Electronic equipment nearly always includes a toxic component, such as cadmium, lead, mercury, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PDBEs), or a combination of them,” council program director Emily Linn says. “When electronics are buried in a landfill or burned in an incinerator, toxics are released into the air, land, and water. Exposure to them can lead to serious brain and nervous system damage, developmental delays and birth defects in newborn children, and cancer.”

Use It Again, PA! will help you find local electronic recyclers, national donation-based charities, and industry take-back programs, and provides general information on electronics recycling and reuse, current legislation, and the harmful effects of e-waste on the environment and public health.

Consider the following facts provided by the state Department of Environmental Protection:

• By 2007, there will be from 315 million to 600 million obsolete computers in the United States, about 75 percent of which will be stored in households, offices, and warehouses.

• Computers destined to become obsolete within the next few years contain more than 1 billion pounds of lead, 1.9 billion pounds of cadmium, 1.2 million pounds of chromium, and nearly 400,000 pounds of mercury.

• Consumer electronics, including video game systems, digital cameras, computers, VCRs and DVD players, televisions, and cell phones, account for 40 percent of the lead found in landfills.