Webinar: Electronics Recycling in Will County 2012

Join us for a webinar on Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM CDT. This seminar will be hosted at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC) in Champaign, IL, and simultaneously broadcast online. The presentation will be archived on the ISTC web site (see http://www.istc.illinois.edu/about/sustainability_seminars.cfm for more information and additional webinar archives).

 

Marta Keane, Recycling Program Specialist & Green Business Relations Coordinator for the Will County (IL) Land Use Department Resource Recovery & Energy Division, will present “Electronics Recycling in Will County 2012.” Register online for this webinar at https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/792822047.

 

Abstract: Effective January 1, 2012, Illinois banned disposal of electronics in landfills. This presentation will describe Will County’s collection efforts before the mandatory ban, the county’s Front Door Electronic Service Program (a 3-year pilot program started April 2011), and steps taken to prepare for the ban. Results of these efforts thus far will be discussed as well as some remaining issues yet to be resolved. Examples of additional sustainability programs being conducted by Will County will also be described, including: efforts that resulted in receiving the Illinois Governor’s Sustainability Award in 2012; household hazardous waste service; tire collection events; book reuse & recycling events; shoe collection/textile collection; medication collection; green building improvements; and the Landfill Gas-to-Energy project.

 

SEI, the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR), and ISTC are hosting a series of seminars this fall focused on sustainable electronics research and issues. Watch the SEI calendar for upcoming seminar dates. You may contact Nancy Holm, SEI Research Coordinator, to be added to the mailing list to receive email notifications of upcoming seminars.

November 15 is America Recycles Day

Happy America Recycles Day! Celebrated annually on November 15 since 1997, America Recycles Day is a program of Keep America Beautiful, Inc. and is about educating the public about how and what to recycle, while encouraging people to do so as part of their daily routine. Those of us who were alive in the 1970s will remember Keep America Beautiful, or KAB, as the folks who brought us the public service campaign involving a Native American man weeping while bearing witness to thoughtless pollution. (You can watch a clip of that famous public service announcement featuring Iron Eyes Cody, and read more about KAB’s history on the organization’s web site.) As a child in the 70s, I suppose those PSAs, along with learning from Woodsy Owl to “Give a Hoot” and not pollute, marked the beginning of my personal journey to working on environmental protection and promoting pollution prevention and sustainability to businesses and citizens in Illinois and beyond.

 

ISTC provides a lot of information relevant to America Recycles Day through its various projects and web sites. On the Sustainable Electronics Initiative web site, you’ll find a fact sheet on Electronics Take-Back and Donation Programs that will help you learn about recycling options, or if you’re interested in selling devices for some extra cash or donating your electronics for a good cause. SEI also provides an extensive Summary of U.S. State Laws on Electronic Waste and Disposal Bans so you can learn what laws, if any, apply in your area. The Law & Policy section of the SEI web site will also help you learn about regulations on the local, federal and international levels, as well as providing more information on voluntary initiatives. The SEI Resources section also provides links on various aspects of electronics recycling. Read about the existing Certification programs on the SEI site to learn about what is involved in the responsible recycling of electronic devices. SEI also provides a RefWorks Database of journal articles on sustainable electronics and e-waste, which includes downloadable citations. And SEI’s International E-Waste Design Competition provides inspiration for the recycling and reuse of electronics scrap, as well as greener electronic product design, through a contest open to current university students and recent graduates from around the globe.

 

On the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) web site, the extensive Sector Resources section provides information on Recycling & Waste Exchange, Product Stewardship, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (if you’re interested in products with recycled content among other considerations), Electronic Waste, and Sustainable Product Design (again, relevant to items incorporating recycled materials or those that were designed with recycling in mind). Construction & Demolition provides information on recycling wastes associated with those activities. In the Topic Hubs section of the site, you’ll find a resource on Industrial Composting developed by the Pollution Prevention Resource Exchange (P2Rx). The GLRPPR Funding Opportunities page provides information on grants to support sustainability activities including recycling. For example, the IL DCEO’s Recycling Grants Program provides technical assistance and grants for capital equipment to governmental entities, private businesses, and not-for-profit organizations for projects involving paper, plastic, metal and glass; the deadline for that program is November 19.

 

ISTC’s Librarian and GLRPPR Executive Director, Laura Barnes, has developed several subject guides for the collection of such guides on the Prairie Research Institute Library web site. The guides on Battery Recycling and  Lamp Recycling and Disposal are excellent resources to consult on America Recycles Day as you learn more about what you can do to recycle more items in your day to day life.

 

So even though recycling may seem like a simple concept that you’ve heard lots about, take some time today to consider all the ways you can incorporate recycling into your work and personal life. Odds are, there’s room for improvement, and every little bit helps!

Champaign County Residential Electronics Collection, Saturday, October 13

Champaign County (IL)  will offer a residential electronics collection event from 8 a.m to noon on Saturday, October 13, 2012. The drop off location is the News-Gazette Distribution Center at 3202 Apollo Drive in Champaign, IL. Click here to view a map of the location, a list of acceptable electronic items being collected, and information on what becomes of the devices that you bring in for recycling (Note: disregard the date on the PDF; the pertinent information is the same for the October 13 event.)

 

Champaign County hosts approximately four of these events a year. If you are unable to go to the event this Saturday, other collection events will be held next year.  Stay tuned for more information.

 

Between collection events, check ISTC’s Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) fact sheet on take back and donation programs for a variety of options on what to do with your unwanted gadgets. You can also always check Earth911.com to find recycling locations near you for a wide variety of items by entering your Zip code.

 

Students: If you are interested in volunteering to assist Champaign County with administering a survey to collection event participants, please contact Courtney Rushforth, 217-384-2302,  for more information. Volunteers would need to arrive at the event site by 7 AM.  This is a great way to get some real world experience with social science research methods, as well as participating in a community outreach activity focused on sustainability and the responsible management of end-of-life electronics. It’s a learning experience and something interesting to list on your resume.

 

If you have any questions regarding the county collection events, call 217-328-3313.

Andrew Revkin, ‘9 Billion People + 1 Earth =?’ Oct. 24 on UIUC Campus

The Prairie Research Institute, home to the State scientific surveys (including the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center), is pleased to announce the latest installment in its lecture series for Fall 2012. Andrew Revkin, Senior Fellow at Pace University and Dot Earth blogger for The New York Times will speak at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, at 4 PM (Central) on Wednesday, October 24, 2012. The presentation is free and open to the public; a reception will follow. See http://www.prairie.illinois.edu/lecture/index.shtml for details, including a map to the location, and an event flier that you may download.

 

Revkin’s presentation is entitled “9 Billion People + 1 Earth = ?” After two centuries of explosive growth, the planet’s human population is widely seen as cresting within the next couple of generations. A mid-range best guess for the peak remains roughly 9 billion people. There are even signs that resource-sapping activities will hit a peak as well. Will we overheat or innovate, conserve or despoil, crash or round the curve with a few scrapes? Andrew Revkin will present an optimistic, but realistic, exploration of ways to share and shape ideas that can foster progress on a finite planet.

 

The Prairie Research Institute Lecture Series is supported by donors to the Naturally Illinois Expo and Lecture Series Fund. Questions may be directed to 217-333-5111.

Celebrate National Pollution Prevention Week 2012

Today marks the first day of National Pollution Prevention Week. Pollution Prevention Week is annually the third week of September. Pollution Prevention Week is a time when businesses, environmental groups and citizens can join forces for a common cause. By sharing information about pollution prevention, businesses can become more competitive, businesses and government can realize cost savings, and environmental quality can be enhanced.P2 Week 2012 poster

The theme for Pollution Prevention Week 2012 is “Safer Chemicals for a Safer World,” which embodies a national effort for safer alternatives to chemicals of concern. This is to ensure the safety and health of workers and communities. Using safer chemical alternatives also provides companies with a marketing edge over their competitors.

For more information on P2 Week, see the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable web site at http://www.p2.org/p2-week/. See also the US Environmental Protection Agency P2 Week page, with tips on preventing pollution at work, home, on the road, and at school, as well as information on various P2 Week activities.

Read the text of the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 here.

For further assistance, see the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable (GLRPPR) web site (GLRPPR is a project of ISTC), or the ISTC Technical Assistance program page.

Sustainable Electronics Seminar Series; Next Webinar Scheduled for Sept. 19

This fall, the ISTC Sustainability Seminars are focused on the Sustainable Electronics. The series kicked off on September 5th when Professor William Bullock and Joy Scrogum presented “Electronic Waste: Our Problem and What We Should Do About It.” See the Sustainable Electronics Initiative Blog post on that webinar, and check the ISTC web site for the archived version.

The next event, which will be hosted at ISTC headquarters in Champaign, IL and simultaneously broadcast online will be a presentation by Dr. Callie Babbitt of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) on “Adapting Ecological Models for Linking Sustainable Production and Consumption Dynamic in Consumer Electronic Product Systems.” This webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, September 19 from noon to 1PM Central. Registration for the webinar is available at https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/541176247. Those on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus are invited to come to ISTC to view the presentation. See the Sustainable Electronics Initiative Blog post on this webinar for further details.

The ISTC Sustainability Seminar series is a year-long series of seminars, usually one or two per month, presented by researchers, business professionals, and policy makers. It is an opportunity to share scientific research and discussion with peers in a relaxed, informal environment. Please feel free to bring a lunch to the local presentation.  Seminars usually last about an hour and questions are welcome. The seminars will be broadcast live and will also be videotaped and archived on the ISTC website, www.istc.illinois.edu. Continue reading “Sustainable Electronics Seminar Series; Next Webinar Scheduled for Sept. 19”

Champaign County Residential Electronics Collection, Saturday, August 4

Champaign County will offer a residential electronics collection event from 8 a.m to noon on Saturday, August 4, 2012. The drop off location is the News-Gazette Distribution Center at 3202 Apollo Drive in Champaign, IL. Click here to view a map of the location, a list of acceptable electronic items being collected, and information on what becomes of the devices that you bring in for recycling.

Champaign County hosts approximately four of these events a year. If you are unable to go to the event this Saturday, another event will be held at the same location, 8 a.m. to noon on October 13, 2012.

Between collection events, check ISTC’s Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) fact sheet on take back and donation programs for a variety of options on what to do with your unwanted gadgets. You can also always check Earth911.com to find recycling locations near you for a wide variety of items by entering your Zip code.

If you have any questions regarding the county collection events, call 217-328-3313.