Washington State surpasses 300 million pounds of recycled electronics

The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) recently announced that E-Cycle Washington, the state’s electronics recycling program, has processed more than 300 million pounds of electronic waste, recycling metal glass and plastic and keeping harmful materials like lead out of landfills.

“Washingtonians really took to the E-Cycle program right out of the gate, and people in our state continue to do a terrific job recycling their old electronics,” E-Cycle program manager Miles Kuntz said. “Recycling electronics makes sense because we can both prevent waste and keep toxics out of the environment.”

According to Ecology, the state has processed 220 million pounds of TVs, 56 million pounds of monitors and 24 million pounds of computers, or 6.5 million pieces of electronics. The majority of the items have been recycled, with more than 98 percent of the materials being reused, but the program has also sold or donated 280,000 televisions, computers and monitors over the years.

E-Cycle Washington allows state residents to recycle electronics — including laptops, tablets, e-readers and portable DVD players in addition to TVs, monitors and computers — at no cost by having manufacturers pay for the recycling up front. While the program is growing in popularity, Ecology expects the growth as measured by weight to slow in the coming years, as newer televisions and monitors are lighter than older ones.