Feds Will Require Contractors to Recycle E-Waste

By JOEL
SCHECTMAN
The U.S. government is about to bar contractors who use computers bought with
federal dollars from dumping the devices in landfills, an official said on
Wednesday.
The new rule, which has not yet been released publicly, will be issued soon
and take effect within 90 days. It will require that government contractors
bring IT equipment to recyclers certified through federally recognized programs,
said Stephen Leeds, senior sustainability officer at the U.S. General Services
Administration.
The pending regulation will apply to thousands of government contractors like
AT&T Inc., T +0.47%SAP AG SAP.XE +0.34%and Verizon
Communications Inc., VZ +0.49%who work
with equipment paid for through federal funds. The date of enactment hasn't been
established, but it will occur within three months, according to Mr. Leeds.
The rule is the latest effort by the Obama administration to curb the growth
of electronic waste, much of which ends up in landfills in the developing
world.
"The federal government has made the determination that disposal of
non-functioning electronics, done incorrectly, is a significant risk to the
public," Mr. Leeds said. "The federal government wants to set an example."
Earlier this month the federal government, America's biggest electronics
customer with an annual IT budget of nearly $80 billion, applied the ban on
tech-dumping to its own agencies.
In 2011, the federal government issued at least 140,000 IT equipment
contracts, worth at least $11 billion, to outside organizations, according to a
Wall Street Journal review of data available on www.USAspending.gov. The
Journal's review included equipment such as data processors, computers and
mainframes, but not more highly specialized gear, such as military systems and
laboratory hardware.
The Obama administration's e-waste push began last summer when the
Environmental Protection Agency released a National Strategy for Electronic
Stewardship. As part of the plan, the EPA received commitments from device
makers Sprint Nextel Corp.,
S -2.35%Dell Inc., DELL +0.60%and Sony Corp. SNE -1.15%to
recycle all warranty and return items it gets back from customers, by 2014.
The program is to address what experts call a growing health risk both for
America and developing nations. The equipment is laden with toxins such as
mercury and lead, and most of it ends up getting dumped or shipped to poor
countries. The EPA estimates that in 2009, 2.37 million tons of computer
equipment were thrown away, but only a quarter of it was recycled. Much of the
rest ended up in U.S. landfills or in developing nations, said Oladele
Ogunseitan, an expert on the issue and chair of public health at the University
of California at Irvine.
"When the products are thrown in the trash they endanger people through
exposure," said Mr. Ogunseitan. "They contain lead which we've known for
centuries is a dangerous metal. There is no law that prevents a company from
just tossing a product."
Mr. Ogunseitan said he would still like to see a federal law broadly
prohibiting the dumping of IT equipment. Such rules have been enacted in the
European Union.
He said the government contractor mandate will create large changes across
the private sector. Government contractors often have private sector clients,
and may begin to use the same recycling practices across their entire
businesses. And the flood of new electronic recycling could make the process
more efficient, allowing recyclers to pay companies in exchange for capturing
valuable parts, strengthening the incentive.
"It's really a huge step," Mr. Ogunseitan said.—This
article is from WSJ.com's CIO Journal, a new premium digital edition launching
soon.