Nevada is one of 22 states without an e-waste recycling law, and two of the region’s primary landfills do not expressly prohibit e-waste. And though Nevada does not have an e-waste law, the state offers guidance on how to best recycle or re-purpose electronic equipment.
Carson City – Old computers, flat-panel televisions, cell phones and electronic waste in general contain toxins such as Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, Polyvinyl Chloride, brominated Flame Retardants, and many other materials harmful to humans. Most toxins found in electronic waste are known as persistent, bioaccumulative toxins or PBTs and can be directly traced to a variety of debilitating and deadly diseases.
Wastes, to include e-waste, fall under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), but there is no specific federal law regarding electronics recycling.
Hazardous household waste includes oil-based paint, stain, pesticides, varnish, gasoline, and herbicides, and residents can make an appointment to safely dispose of hazardous materials. A few items are not accepted as hazardous waste and are prohibited from the landfill, expressly: water-based latex paints, biohazards, radioactive wastes, and propane cylinders of any kind, but there is no explicit language that would prohibit a citizen from dumping e-waste in the landfill.
NV Recycling in Carson City accepts most e-waste for free, and their business model is simple. They disassemble the electronic components into groups based on material, and that material is sold to recyclers that further refine the material and return it to it’s reusable constituent components.
Lizi Mao is the account manager for NV Recycling. “In Nevada there is no law against throwing them (computers) in the dump,” said Mao. “Unlike California, Nevada is totally different because the government doesn’t decide to support that (mandated electronics recycling), so residential people actually they can throw electronics one or two items in the garbage nobody will care and … that’s just reality.”
NV Recycling accepts most e-waste for free, but they have to charge to recycle some items, and the reason has to do with the state of markets for recyclable materials. “Because we sell these products based on their recyclable value, so different material market price definitely affects the profit we get,” Mao explained. “A few years ago we didn’t charge for printers and copy machines, but the reason we have to in two years to start charging them because the scrap plastic market goes down a lot.”
Read the full story at https://www.knvc.org/news/nv-recycling-diverts-many-tons-of-toxic-e-waste-from-local-landfills/.