Oregon’s electronic recycling program has set another collection record, even as other kinds of recycling have dropped.
Oregon has recycled nearly 70 million pounds of electronic material in the first three years of its so-called “e-cycling” program. 2011 was the biggest haul, with close to 26 million pounds.
Recycling numbers overall have been down in recent years, from a high in 2005. Those figures include things like paper and plastic.
Mary Lou Perry is a solid waste specialist at the state Department of Environmental Quality.
She explained, “Part of it is that electronics is a unique material. People don’t get rid of them, or tend to get rid of them immediately upon buying the new flatscreen TV, for example.”
Televisions make up about 70 percent of electronic materials sent for electronic recycling. Computers and monitors are the other products included in the e-cycling program. Oregon banned putting those products in landfills two years ago.
(This was first reported for OPB News.)
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