Oregon’s E-cycles Program collects 10 million pounds of waste in first 6 months

The Oregon E-Cycles Program, which provides free recycling of televisions, computers and monitors throughout the state, collected 9.54 million pounds of waste for recycling during its first six months, far above originally projected rates. The program, which launched January 1, originally projected collection of 12.2 million pounds of material throughout 2009.

The total amount of electronic waste collected at the more than 200 collection sites in Oregon in April, May and June was 4.81 million pounds, up slightly from 4.73 million pounds tallied for the first three months. Of the 9.54 million-pound total for the first half of 2009, more than half (56 percent) was from collection of televisions, 33 percent from monitors and 11 percent from computers.

The amount of televisions collected remained consistent from first quarter to second quarter, said Kathy Kiwala, E-Cycles project lead.

“The proportion of waste was consistent with the first quarter, but we did not see the predicted tsunami of analog TVs from the (June 12) digital changeover,” said Kiwala. Television collection numbers may spike up in the third quarter, she acknowledged.

Oregon E-Cycles is a statewide electronics recycling program financed by electronic manufacturers and jointly implemented by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Anyone can bring seven or fewer computers (desktop and laptop), monitors and TVs.

Many manufacturers support the DEQ-administered state contractor collection and recycling program. Three other manufacturer groups operate their own collection and recycling programs, but report to DEQ under the Oregon E-Cycles umbrella. They are Dell Inc., the Individual Producers Responsibility Group, and the Manufacturers Recycling Management Company LLC.