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 companys 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
bobchandra@code-green.org

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