Dive Brief:
- Washington State’s electronics recycling program has hit a milestone of recycling 300 million pounds of electronics in the past seven years, with Goodwill being one of the biggest networks connected to the program, receiving about five truckloads of e-waste every 10 days.
- Funded solely by manufacturers including Sony, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, about 330 companies are part of the state-run program.
- Nearly 98% of the materials, which are recycled at Washington Materials Management, get reused.
Dive Insight:
Washington’s E-Cycle program is proving what can happen when organizations from nonprofits to huge corporations team up to support the community and the environment.
Manufacturing giants fund the program, having agreed to a contract with annual operating costs of $12 million. And as far as lead partner, Goodwill Operations Director Jeff Maddison says it makes sense for the organization to do its part; the outlet already recycles multiple materials to include textiles, clothing, and wares. He and his staff even meet people at their cars to help them haul what they bring by.
And the collections are stacking up.
"If you look at a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier … the aircraft carrier weighs about 250 million pounds, so we've actually collected more weight in electronics," E-Cycle Program Manager Miles Kuntz told KEPR TV.
A payback for residents is that their communities are cleaner and less cluttered while their old belongings find a new life in one form or another. Among other recycling collaborations in that region, Washington State University partnered with Composite Recycling Center for a robust initiative And not long ago the state committed to an ambitious recycling plan to divert carbon fiber.
