No more TVs in landfills
•It is now illegal to incinerate or bury old computer equipment in Massachusetts.
By Jim Patten
Eagle-Tribune Writer

   If you are a Massachusetts resident with a computer monitor, television or video game to dispose of, don't leave it on the curb with the rest of your household refuse on collection day, the hauler won't pick it up.
   As of yesterday, it is against the law to dispose of those or any other items with cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in an incinerator or landfill.
   The state's Department of Environmental Protection has adopted new regulations promoting the reuse or recyclmg of those items.
   The first-in-the-nation ban on dumping these components in landfills and incinerators is aimed at heading off a flood of potentially toxic electronic junk into the state's waste stream.
   The DEP has also pledged to pay for recycling CRTs in 113 cities and towns this year, covering almost half the state's population.
   State officials estimate that residents already dispose of 75,000 tons of electronic equipment in landfills or incinerators every year, and that figure is expected to grow to 300,000 tons by 2005 if nothing is done.
   DEP officials said they are also concerned about the development of higher quality televisions that could send many older television to the dump by 2006.
   "Today's fast-paced technology industry quickly pushes former cutting edge electronics into obsolescence. But many electronic components and entire units can be reused again," said DEP Commissioner Lauren A. Liss.
   She said by encouraging the recycling of CRTs and electronics in general, a market for recyclables is created.
   "More importantly, we protect the environment by reducing the disposal of hazardous materials in landfills and incinerators," she said.
   The average CRT contains five to eight pounds of lead, which poses a health threat when released into the environment, according to information provided by the DEP. Lead is released when the CRTs are crushed in a landfill or incinerated.
   Besides the lead in the CRTs, circuit boards and batteries in computers contain toxic heavy
metals such as cadmium and mercury.
   The state has helped arrange for regional centers where computers and televisions can be dropped off.
   Those centers include Goodwill Industries outlets in Boston, Pittsfield, Lowell and Springfield, Salvation Army sites in Saugus and Springfield, and the recycling center at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
   Closer to home, area residents may drop off their computers, televisions and video games at the Goodwill Industries stores at 226 Essex St. in Lawrence, and Route 125 in Plaistow, N.H. next to Papa Gino's Restaurant.
   Joyce Sgarlata, manager of the Lawrence Goodwill outlet, said yesterday there is no fee for dropping those items off at her store.   _
   "I just put them in a bin in the store and then they go to Lowell," she said.
   The Goodwill stores are open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
"We are trying to get this prograni in place before the future tidal wave of electronics hits," said Robin Ingenthron, a strategic planner with the DEP.

Wire service material was used in this story.

Computer world spawns a new industry
By Dale McFeatters
Scripps Howard

   In the breathtakingly fast world of computers, it takes 18 months for today's technology to become tomorrow's junk. And, my, what a lot of junk it's getting to be.
   Massachusetts, a high-tech hub, now disposes of 75,000 tons of discarded electronics a year; that is expected to reach 300,000 tons by 2005.
   By industry estimates, 61 million computers became obsolete in the last three years, and 75 percent of them haven't been thrown out yet. Even so, 20 million computers were junked in
1998. Junkwise, that's no band width at all. By 2004, 315 million computers are expected to be junked.
   One geek calculated that if all the obsolete "e-junk" sitting around in attics, basements and storerooms were thrown out at once, it would fill a foot- ball field a mile high.
   All of this is a problem for the people who must manage landfills. Computer monitors, the cathode ray tubes, contain 5 to 8 pounds of lead, and the circuit boards and other components contain other toxic heavy metals like mercury and cadmium, which can leach into the groundwater if dumped or get into the air if burned.
   One solution, recycling, is off to a modest but promising start. In Maryland, a mom-and-pop operation got its start by winning permission to park a computers-only Dumpster at a county landfill. The company, called Subtractions, will pick up loads of 10 or more computers and, as word gets around, companies are starting to haul their obsolete PCs to the recycling firm. The company is now dismembering 300 to 400 computers a week and turning a profit.
   The computer pioneers envisioned dozens of spin-off industries from their creation. Who could have guessed one of them would be junk?