Event will accept, recycle unwanted electronic gear

NORFOLK

One of largest recycling events for unwanted electronic devices - old computers, TVs, cell phones - will occur this week for Hampton Roads residents, businesses, schools and nonprofit organizations.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, an environmental group, is sponsoring the free "e-cycling" event as part of its Clean the Bay Day celebration this weekend.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, businesses, schools and other organizations with bulk loads can drop off their electronic wastes at a manned parking lot at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, at the corner of 43rd Street and Powhatan Boulevard.

Then on Saturday, also from 9 to 3, residents are encouraged to cart their wastes to the same lot and recycle them without charge.

Apple Inc., the computer giant, is picking up the tab. A Massachusetts contractor, Metech International, will haul away and recycle all the materials, while also guaranteeing that none will be dumped in foreign countries.

E-cycling has become a popular cause these days, given that most devices contain traces of toxic metals, including lead and mercury. If thrown away with household trash, the wastes often wind up in a landfill, where they can leach into soils or groundwater supplies.

E-cycling has a dark side, though.

Some vendors have been shown to simply box up the wastes and ship them overseas, most often to African or Asian nations, and keep a handsome handling fee for themselves.

One of the focuses this week, event organizers say, is to highlight such Third World dumping and show that electronic wastes can be handled properly in North America.

"All equipment is processed in North America by a fully permitted facility in full compliance with all local, state and federal guidelines," the Chesapeake Bay Foundation states in a news release about the event.

A spokesman for Metech International, Andrew McManus, said his company does not retool old devices and reuse them. Instead, all materials are recycled, either at U.S. or Canadian facilities, and none of the equipment goes to either of the company's Asian plants, in Malaysia and Thailand.

Metech, however, has not signed a green-handling pledge with the activist group Basel Action Network. The Seattle-based group monitors overseas dumping and encourages Western industries to act according to international treaties on toxic waste.

Sarah Westervelt, a BAN spokeswoman, said her group has been after Metech to sign the pledge for years. The group also has pressured Apple Inc. to be more environmentally responsible with its products, she said.

McManus acknowledged the BAN pledge and said the matter is "in the hands of our president."

"We've had some philosophical differences with the BAN people," he said. "But we'll sign eventually."

Metech was the primary contractor last year for a Virginia e-cycling event that occurred simultaneously at four state colleges, including ODU and Virginia Tech.

The Norfolk Environmental Commission has organized e-cycling days each of the past three years, and the city of Virginia Beach held an event this year as part of Earth Day activities.

Those events were generally restricted to city businesses and residents, while the one this week is open to anyone from Hampton Roads, organizers said.

The regional waste authority, SPSA, has talked about starting a permanent program, but high costs have sidelined any such effort.

Norfolk, however, is eyeing a full-time drop-off program and hopes to formalize the details this summer, city officials have said.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com