The National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced the formation of an initiative to aid in the development of a national infrastructure for electronics recycling. The initiative, known as the National Electronics Recycling Infrastructure Clearinghouse (NERIC), represents a key step in the ultimate formation of a harmonized system for managing used electronics across the nation. Said Jason Linnell, executive director of NCER, “This initiative encompasses many of the important principles embraced by the NCER since its formation last year, which are active participation of the electronics industry, research and education on the benefits of multi-state harmonization of recycling systems, and cooperative action among public and private sector stakeholder groups.”
As more individual states develop mandatory electronics recycling programs, stakeholders will be looking for strategies to ensure development of logical and efficient electronics recycling systems that work together. NERIC will pull together information useful for these strategies, including utilization of a private sector organization.
The hub of activity for this initiative will be the NERIC website at www.ecyclingresource.org. On the site, electronics recycling stakeholders can find information on the initial NERIC projects, such as:
Information and analysis on product scope issues and other critical data elements needed for a consistent national system (e.g., projected collection rates, product weight assumptions, collection infrastructure models) designed to promote system harmonization across states that are developing independent and sometimes conflicting electronics recycling requirements. Research and education on the establishment of a private sector third party organization (TPO) as an alternative approach to recycling system administration that avoids new government bureaucracies.
NERIC will serve as an industry-backed resource on recycling systems-level issues for a range of stakeholders, including local, state and national government officials, manufacturers, recyclers, and environmental advocacy groups.
The National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER) was incorporated as a non-profit organization in West Virginia in March 2005. The seed funding for the NCER comes from a federally funded grant project (Mid-Atlantic Recycling Center for End-of-Life Electronics or MARCEE). The primary purpose of the NCER is to coordinate the many initiatives targeting the recycling of end-of-life electronics in the United States. The NCER is dedicated to the enhancement of the national infrastructure for recycling used electronics under the direction of a 12-member Industry Advisory Committee of manufacturers who are the leaders in the environmental field.
Loading...