Electronic Waste
Recycling & Proper Handling
 

June 15, 2006 letter to the California Integrated Waste Management Board

We are writing on behalf of the Council of California Goodwill Industries to express our concern and oppostion to the mandatory payment period provision outlined in the proposed changes to the emergency regulations of the Electronci Waste Recycling Act.

...extending this period to 90 days may help elliviate the State’s challenge to process claims in a timely fashion...doing so institutionalizes that non-profits must subsidize the State’s law and creates a significant financial hardship on non-profits...

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May 25, 2006 article in Recyling Today regarding Goodwill Industires of San Joaquin Valley recyling efforts

Non-Profit, E-Scrap Recycler Team Up

Goodwill Industries of San Joaquin Valley (California) will be partnering with Electronics Recyclers, based in Fresno, Calif., to expand a program where consumers can drop off unwanted computer monitors and televisions for free at all regional Goodwill donation sites.

Goodwill is authorized by the State of California to collect computer monitors, laptops, and televisions; Electronic Recyclers is authorized by the State to recycle the items.

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May 1, 2006 letter of support for AB 3001

I am writing on behalf of the Council of California Goodwill Industries to express our support of AB 3001, which will expand the state’s current Electronic Waste Recycling Act to include all personal computers that contain central processing units.

California’s existing e-waste law is currently applicable only to televisions, computers, and other CRT-containing products, which is about 44 percent of the overall electronics waste stream in California. By extending our current e-waste law to include all central processing units, we can attempt to eliminate upwards of 120,000 tons of hazardous e-waste from landfills every year

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2006 E-Waste Collection by California Goodwills

California Goodwills collected about 10.8% of the 105 million pounds of Covered Electronic Waste (CEW) that came into the state’s e-waste system in 2006.

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October 17, 2005 letter to the California Integrated Waste Management Board

We are writing in response to your inquiry on Tuesday, October 4, 2005, at the meeting of the Sustainability and Market Development Committee in Sacramento, regarding Goodwill Industries and the volume of our electronic waste.  We are encouraged to hear that your staff, recyclers and environmental advocates recognize that Goodwill Industries in California are having difficulty complying with source documentation requirements under the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 and the CIWMB emergency regulations. 

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July 1, 2005 letter to the California Integrated Waste Management Board

We are writing on behalf of the Council of California Goodwill Industries to express our concerns with the implementation of the Electronic Waste Recycling Act (SB 20, Chapter #526, Statutes of 2003).

. . . we at Goodwill are dismayed and appalled by the paperwork requirements for collection logs, waste transfer and recycling payment claims.  We are frustrated with our inability to receive reimbursement for abandoned waste submitted since January 1, 2005 through certified recyclers.

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March 15, 2005 electronic recycling position paper

Goodwill organizations are faced with the escalating cost to dispose of non-sellable electronic items (e-waste) in landfills.  Over 80 percent of computers donated to Goodwill are unusable.  Goodwill spends a significant amount of money in disposing these computers and other electronics.  These disposal costs take away from the resources that Goodwill organizations have to re-invest in vital human services they provide to their communities.

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November 11, 2004 position paper

Goodwill organizations are faced with the escalating cost to dispose of non-sellable items in landfills.  Landfill costs take away from the resources that our organizations can reinvest in core mission-related services to disadvantaged populations in our respective communities.

The disposal of electronic waste (e-waste), which includes computers, televisions and cell phones, also poses a unique challenge for Goodwill. Hazardous materials found in monitors and television screens require special, costly handling when recycling and disposing.

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