Congress may look to add new regulations covering e-scrap and the disposal and recycling of used electronics by reintroducing the Responsible Electronics Recycling Act (RERA). Though RERA failed to become law during its last go-round, it sparked an intense debate within the e-scrap recycling industry.
Coalitions of businesses and organizations on both sides of the bill lobbyied for and against it. A group of nearly 30 U.S. electronics recycling firms showed their support for the legislation by forming the Coalition for American Electronics Recycling (CAER) in 2011. Their stance stood in contrast to that of the Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI), which lobbied against previous iterations of RERA on the grounds that these types of regulations on exports are both unnecessary and would harm the recycling sector. Both sides have valid and interesting arguments. The law would also help develop a research program at the Department of Energy for improving technology and capacity for recovering and recycling rare earth materials.
The new legislation is backed by HP, Dell, Apple, Samsung, Best Buy, The Electronics TakeBack Coalition, the Natural Resources Defense Council and a number of recycling companies. Samsung was the first electronics manufacturer to publicly support HR 2791 saying that it was “proud to again support the passage of RERA.”
If you want to learn more about recycling electronics and used IT assets, look around our site. There’s a great opportunity for a better tomorrow, and it starts with people like you!
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