Recycling on in one way or another

Recycling on in one way or another

Recycling in the United States has been going on in one way or another since the continent was colonized.

In the early 1990s the State of Illinois began to recognize the connection between recycling, waste management, and the potential of economic development. In 1995, the state combined the functions of several of the state’s natural resource agencies in order to make their operation more efficient and better focused (Swager).The Solid Waste Management Act (SWMAct) was enacted in 1986 and later amendments assigned DCCA the responsibility of being the lead agency in Illinois in implementing waste reduction programs (Swager). This law allows DCCA to provide grants and loans to business, non-profit organizations, and non-profit entities (SWMAct). Some specific requirements under SWMAct include state procurement of products made from recycled commodities and development by state-funded colleges and universities of comprehensive waste reduction plans.

Under the Solid Waste Planning and Recycling Act (SWP;RAct), Illinois counties are required to develop comprehensive solid waste management plans. It is this piece of legislation that dictates the specific state recycling and waste reduction goals. These goals are summarized in Chart 1.Both the SWMAct and SWP;RAct legislation have failed to take into account a growing segment of the public waste stream computers. Since and advent of the first widely accepted personal computer (PC) in 1976 the public has been drawn to this new technological innovation. Nationally more than 22 million computers become obsolete every year. Current 2/3 of these computers end up in landfills.

Now with new technological innovations computer prices have dropped to levels that almost make them disposable. It is expected that the new and much lower priced computers will increase the rate of obsolesces from 22 million to over 70 million a year alone in the United States. The average cathode ray tube (CRT) in a computer monitors has 5 to 8 pounds of lead. The risk of ground water contamination through leaching cannot be taken likely.

Computers and related accessories also have other hazardous and toxic components including mercury switches, mercury batteries, battery back-ups with lead acid and nickel cadmium batteries. Computers also have many valuable components that can be recycled including gold, silver, copper, aluminum, glass, steel, and plastic.The purpose of this thesis is to develop a comprehensive plan for the establishment of an infrastructure for the refurbishment and recycling of obsolete computers and associated products.It is my hypothesis that a computer-recycling program can be developed and running with little cost since most of the recycling infrastructure has already been established in the state of Illinois.I will establish a detailed plan that includes public drop-off centers.

A centralized storage and inspection program, which will determine if a computer can be refurbished or recycled, then onto the required facility with final disposition of either a fully refurbished computer or recycled components.Estimated Time Table for Thesis Completion1.Committee approval of thesis proposal.

3 weeks2.Identification of pertinent businesses.1 week3.Designing infrastructure plan.3 weeks4.

Presentation to DCCA for outside recommendations.2 weeks5.Recommended revisions.1 week6.Draft modifications by committee2 weeks8.

Presentation to committee (1).2 weeks9.Recommended revisions.1 week10.

Presentation to committee (2).2 weeks11.Recommended revisions.1 week12.Presentation to committee (3).2 weeks13.Recommended revisions.

1 week14.Presentation of final thesis.UnknownBrenniman, Gary R., Stephen D.

Cesper, and William H. Hallenbeck. Case Studies in Rural Recycling. University of Illinois Center for Solid Waste Management and Research, Office of Technology Transfer, Chicago, Illinois 1994.—.

Construction and Demolition Waste: Generation, Regulation, Practices, Processing, and Policies. University of Illinois Center for Solid Waste Management and Research, Office of Technology Transfer, Chicago, Illinois 1993.Brenniman, Gary R.

, William H. Hallenbeck, and Bruce A. Hegberg. Post-Consumer Mixed Plastics Recycling: Characterization, Collection, Costs and Markets. University of Illinois Center for Solid Waste Management and Research, Office of Technology Transfer, Chicago, Illinois 1995.—.Technologies for Recycling Post-Consumer Mixed Plastics.

University of Illinois Center for Solid Waste Management and Research, Office of Technology Transfer, Chicago, Illinois 1995.—.University and College Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling. University of Illinois Center for Solid Waste Management and Research, Office of Technology Transfer, Chicago, Illinois 1992.

Illinois. Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. Illinois Recycled Products Guide: 1998-1999. Illinois Department of Commerce and Community ‘Affairs, Bureau of Energy and Recycling, Springfield, Illinois 1998.

—.Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. Summary of Illinois’ Solid Waste Legislation.Bibliography: