World Environment Day Study – 30% Bay Area Businesses Do Not Recycle Electronics
With the World Environment Day approaching, a Code-Green study reveals that almost one-third (30%) of Bay Area businesses dispose major electronics in the trash. Code-Green, a Bay-Area non-profit, released the report, "Bay Area Business E-Waste", as part of an effort to shed light on regional e-Recycling practices.
Berkeley, CA (PRWEB) June 2, 2005 -- With the World Environment Day
approaching, Code-Green has released a study of Bay Area business e-Recycling
practices. The just-released study reveals that almost one-third (30%) of local
small-to-midsize businesses dispose at least some of their major electronics in
the trash.
“This is a concerning finding considering that e-Waste is one
of the fastest growing source of toxics” says Bob Chandra, Executive Director
Code-Green. “By causing environmental harm such as groundwater contamination,
e-Waste has a direct impact on our quality of life.”
Code-Green, a
Bay-Area non-profit, released the report, "Bay Area Business E-Waste", leading
up to the World Environment Day conference being held in San Francisco, as part
of an effort to shed light on regional e-Recycling, the recycling of computers
and other electronics. Based on interviews with 100 Bay Area small-to-midsize
businesses (between 20-1000 employees), the new study also identifies the chief
impediments to business e-Recycling.
·Complexity: 60% of businesses
surveyed claimed managing their e-Recycling project "takes more effort than it
should." -Businesses managers interviewed described having to
work with a number of charities and recyclers in order to have all their
electronics disposed.
·Lack of Awareness: Only 35% were clear about the
e-Recycling reuse and recycling options available to them.
-While there are
numerous electronics recyclers, the awareness of these services is
low.
These impediments may explain the low rates of e-Recycling among
small-to-midsize businesses.
“Reasons for not e-Recycling ranged from
having to deal with multiple service providers to lack of free pick-up,” Chandra
said. “To increase the rate of business e-Recycling, the e-Recycling process may
need to be simplified and be designed to meet the business’ philanthropy
goals.”
With the World Environment Day conference focusing on global
environmental matters, the “Bay Area Business e-Waste” study is meant to raise
awareness of a significant, environmental issue affecting the San Francisco Bay
Area.
Other findings include:
·The top criteria in choosing an e-Waste
service provider was “Convenience/Comprehensiveness”
·65% of businesses
worked with multiple organizations in order to recycle all their electronics (as
opposed to a single organization). This included working with charities,
computer recyclers, wireless recyclers, and asset management companies.
·On a
scale of 1-5 (5 being highest), businesses rated “addressing the company’s
e-Waste/end-of-life hardware problem” a 3.7.
The full report is available
at: http://code-green.org/study.html
About
Code-Green
One of the fastest growing sources of toxics comes from an
unlikely source: PCs and electronics. Code-Green is a Bay-Area non-profit that
is studying the e-Waste problem and working to raise awareness of e-Waste and
e-Recycling in the Bay Area.
For more information, contact:
Bob
Chandra, Executive Director – Code-Green
(408) 489-5292
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb246700.htm