{"65615":{"#nid":"65615","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Thomas speaks on how Smart Trash reinvents computer waste recycling","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe concept of\nSmart Trash as an innovative way to encourage a cradle-to-grave approach to\nhandling electronic products was presented on April 15\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E at an event\nhosted by the Embassy of the United States of America in Wellington, New Zealand.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETwo presenters,\none from Georgia Tech and the other from US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)\nin Washington DC, joined the Wellington event by videoconference to discuss a\nnew approach to tackling the global e-waste problem.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EDr Valerie Thomas\nis the Anderson Interface Associate Professor of Natural Systems in the Stewart\nSchool of Industrial and Systems Engineering with a joint\nappointment in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech.\u0026nbsp; She has been researching the concept of Smart\nTrash for a number of years and believes that the time is right for electronic\nproducts to take \u2018self responsibility\u2019.\u0026nbsp;\n\u201cProduct stewardship encourages suppliers to take responsibility for\ntheir own products at end of life, but I believe we can go even further and get\nthe products to take more responsibility for themselves,\u201d she said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \u201cThe secret is to attach the Universal\nProduct Code (UPC) barcode or RFID (radio frequency identification) tag to the product\nitself, as opposed to the packaging which is typically discarded as soon as the\nproduct is installed.\u201d\u0026nbsp; She cited a\nsuccessful application with mobile phones in Europe where the data in the\nbarcode recorded full details of the materials used in manufacture, reducing\ncosts when the phones are sent for recycling.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EDr Thomas pointed\nout the costs of applying RFID tags at the point of manufacture have dropped to\nas low as US 5 cents, so there is no cost barrier to widespread implementation,\neven on low value items. \u201cOnce implemented, lots of new options become\navailable for efficiently managing the re-use, refurbishment or recycling of\nthe products,\u201d she said. \u201cBut most importantly, it will make the disposal of\nelectronic trash easy for the end consumer and even open up the possibility of\na cash return. \u0026nbsp;With cash incentives and\nuser-friendliness, consumers are much more likely to start disposing of their\nelectronic waste in a responsible and environment-friendly manner.\u201d \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAngie Leith from\nEPA provided the background to the development of RFID as a possible technology\nfor tracking electronic products at end of life as well as for the distribution\nof new products to retailers.\u0026nbsp; \u201cWe\nstarted studying RFID technologies in 2002 to help us understand any possible\nnegative effects on the environment, but now see them as a possible tool for\nmanaging waste streams and increasing the levels of recycling.\u0026nbsp; In the USA in 2009, only 15% of the\nelectronic equipment entering the waste stream\u0026nbsp;\nwas recycled and our goal is to achieve recycling rates much closer to\nthe national average for other materials (33%), or even higher,\u201d she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTwenty-five\npercent of the states in America now have legislation covering e-waste, with\nmany banning electronic waste in landfills.\u0026nbsp;\nWe are relying on technology innovations such as RFID to help us\nimplement better e-waste solutions on a nationwide basis,\u201d Ms Leith said.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; But she did point out that this will rely on\ncomputer companies attaching RFID tags to their products at the point of\nmanufacture. \u201cWhile we will do everything we can to encourage this, we do not\nenvisage a legislative solution at this stage,\u201d she concluded.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEfficient and\nconvenient collection and disposal systems are critical for successful e-waste\nrecycling, but it is important that the mechanisms are also in place to\ntransport the recovered materials into new manufacturing processes,\u201d said\nLaurence Zwimpfer, Chair of the eDay New Zealand Trust, and MC for the Smart\nTrash discussion. \u201cThis presents a special challenge for New Zealand, because\nof our geographic isolation from the main manufacturing nations in Asia and\nEurope.\u0026nbsp; We still have to pay to get\nextracted materials to these markets.\u0026nbsp; We\nfind the Smart Trash approach very interesting and will certainly encourage\nmanufacturers to start tagging their products, but we believe there will still\nbe a net cost to achieve sustainable e-waste recycling in New Zealand.\u0026nbsp; We will continue to press for product\nstewardship schemes to be put in place in New Zealand with supporting\ngovernment regulations to ensure all suppliers participate equitably in\ncovering these costs,\u201d he said. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe eDay New\nZealand Trust was formed in 2010 to focus on the development of sustainable\nsolutions for the recycling of electronic waste in New Zealand and the Pacific.\u0026nbsp; It took over running the annual eDay, free\ne-waste recycling event in New Zealand, which in 2010 saw nearly 20,000 cars\ndropping off over 80,000 items of electronic waste, filling over 160 20\u2019\nshipping containers.\u0026nbsp; \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Public Affairs\nSection of the Embassy of the United States of America arranges videoconference\npresentations from time to time on matters of public interest.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDr. Valerie Thomas, Anderson Interface Associate Professor of Natural Systems in the Stewart\nSchool of Industrial and Systems Engineering with a joint\nappointment in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech, spoke on the concept of\nSmart Trash as an innovative way to encourage a cradle-to-grave approach to\nhandling electronic products on April 15\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E at an event\nhosted by the Embassy of the United States of America in Wellington, New Zealand.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Thomas speaks on how Smart Trash reinvents computer waste recycling"}],"uid":"27279","created_gmt":"2011-04-18 13:37:22","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:34","author":"Barbara Christopher","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-04-18T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"65614":{"id":"65614","type":"image","title":"Angie Leith from the US Environmental Protection Agency (left) and Dr Valerie Thomas from Georgia Tech Atlanta beam in from Washington DC to an interested audience at the US Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand.","body":null,"created":"1449176863","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:07:43","changed":"1475894579","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:59","alt":"Angie Leith from the US Environmental Protection Agency (left) and Dr Valerie Thomas from Georgia Tech Atlanta beam in from Washington DC to an interested audience at the US Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand.","file":{"fid":"192283","name":"Thomas_Wellington_Videoconference.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thomas_Wellington_Videoconference_0.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Thomas_Wellington_Videoconference_0.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3585424,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Thomas_Wellington_Videoconference_0.JPG?itok=a-8mbktL"}}},"media_ids":["65614"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"155","name":"Congressional Testimony"}],"keywords":[{"id":"12825","name":"electronic waste"},{"id":"1352","name":"ewaste"},{"id":"171081","name":"smart trash"},{"id":"1135","name":"valerie thomas"},{"id":"12830","name":"Wellington New Zealand"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}