UTAH ELECTRONIC WASTE LANDFILL BAN
Fact Sheet
What is E-waste?

Computers and peripherals, copiers fax and copy machines, cell phones and wireless
devices, printers, televisions, stereos audio/stereo equipment, microwaves, cathode ray
tubes (CRTs), VCRs, DVD players, video cameras, telephones, video game consoles.
E-waste is toxic.

E-waste contains toxic substances—known carcinogens and neurotoxins—such as lead,
mercury, cadmium, PCBs, silicon, arsenic, chromium, barium, brominated flame
retardants, and PVC plastics that release dioxin when burned.1

When e-waste is disposed of in landfills, these toxic substances leach into the
groundwater, or are released into the air when burned.
Did you know . . .

Each CRT television and computer monitor may contain as much as eight pounds of
lead.2
Electronic waste is a growing problem.
1

E-waste is responsible for roughly 70% of the overall toxic waste in landfills.3

E-waste is the fastest growing municipal waste stream in the U.S., growing at three (3)
times the rate of other municipal waste: In 2010, 2.4 million tons of e-waste were
Electronic Waste and Public Health, Clean Air Council, available at
http://www.cleanair.org/program/waste_and_recycling/electronic_waste/electronic_waste_and_public_health
2
E-Scrap Recycling Avoids Environmental Risks, Earth911, available at http://earth911.com/recycling/electronics/ewaste-harmful-materials/.
3
Electronic Waste and Public Health, Clean Air Council, available at
http://www.cleanair.org/program/waste_and_recycling/electronic_waste/electronic_waste_and_public_health
discarded in the U.S. and 20-50 million tons worldwide.4 Over 70% of discarded
electronics (4 million tons) were disposed of in landfills in 2007; less than 30% were
reused or recycled.5
Did you know . . .

Every day, Americans throw away more than 400,000 mobile devices (cell phones, iphones, etc.) and 142,000 computers.6
Recycling E-Waste: Conserves Water, Energy, and Valuable Resources

E-waste contains many valuable materials that can be recovered such as steel, aluminum,
glass, plastics, and precious metals such as gold, copper, and silver.

Recycling e-waste requires significantly less energy and water than mining and
manufacturing these products from scratch. For example, recycling aluminum takes 90%
less energy; plastics, 70%; glass, 40%; and steel, 60%.7
Did you know . . .
4

Around 97% of a computer can be recycled.8

Manufacturing one (1) computer requires1.5 tons of water, 350 lbs. of fossil fuels, and 48
lbs. of chemicals. In fact, 81% of the energy use associated with a computer comes from
making it, not using it.9

One metric ton of e-waste contains more gold than that recovered from 17 tons of gold
ore.10
Facts and Figures on E-waste and Recycling, Electronics TakeBack Coalition (Feb. 2012), at 2, available at
http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp-content/uploads/Facts_and_Figures_on_EWaste_and_Recycling.pdf
citing Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 2009 Facts and Figures, US EPA (December 2010), available at
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2009rpt.pdf and Press Release, “Basel Conference
Addresses Electronic Wastes Challenge” (November 27, 2006), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
available at
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=485&ArticleID=5431&l=en
5
Id. at 1.
6
Id. at 2.
7
Id. at 7.
8
Electronic Waste Policy Issues Packet, State Environmental Resource Center, available at
http://www.serconline.org/ewaste/fact.html, citing Electronic Waste: A New Challenge For A New Millennium,
Environmental Updat (Summer 2001); Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (July 30, 2003) available
at <http://www.deq.state.ne.us/Newslett.nsf/pages/Sum01-4a>.
9
Facts and Figures on E-waste and Recycling, Electronics TakeBack Coalition (Feb. 2012), at 6, available at
http://www.electronicstakeback.com/wp-content/uploads/Facts_and_Figures_on_EWaste_and_Recycling.pdf,
citing Williams, Eric, Energy Intensity of Computer Manufacturing: Hybrid Assessment Combining Process and
Economic Input‐output Methods, United Nations University, Environmental Science & Technology 38(22), 6166 ‐
6174 (2004).
Recycling E-Waste Creates Jobs

Recycling on average creates more jobs per ton than mining or disposing of e-waste by
burning or burying it, 11 and has created hundreds of new jobs in Utah alone.12

A 2011 report by the Telus Institute estimates that 1.5 million new American jobs can be
created by increasing the U.S. recycling rate from 33% to 75%.13
The Solution: A Statewide Landfill Ban
10

Nineteen (19) states have banned e-waste from landfills,14 and recycling rates have
increased dramatically, sometimes doubling, in those states.

Recycling programs, paid for by manufacturers are also required in many states, such as
Washington, Oregon and Vermont. Known as extended producer responsibility (EPR),
these recycling programs ensure that the cost of producing a dangerous product is borne
by the producer—and not the taxpayer, consumer, or local government. EPR also
encourages producers/manufacturers to phase out or recycle toxic components of
electronics and discourages illegal dumping.
USGS Fact Sheet FS‐060‐01 (July 2001), available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs060‐01/.
Jobs and Economic Development, Product Policy Institute, available at
http://www.productpolicy.org/content/jobs-and-economic-development; U.S. Recycling Economic Information
Study Prepared for The National Recycling Coalition by R. W. Beck, Inc, July 2001, available at
http://www.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/tools/rmd/rei-rw/pdf/exe-sum.pdf
12
Recycling and the Economy: Grow Jobs and Increase Economic Development, Colorado Association for Recycling
(Oct. 2011), at 2, available at http://www.cafr.org/pdf/resources/RecyclingandtheEconomy.pdf (“In Utah, the
state established Recycling Market Development Zones. Begun in 1997, by 2005 they had over 30 participating
businesses, created over 200 new jobs, had over $26 M invested in 2003 alone, and during the 1999 – 2003
economic downturn, investment in the recycling industry continued to grow.”) Brunner, Dixie, Recycling Metals,
Jobs, and the Environment, Southern Utah News (April 2012), available at
http://www.sunews.net/article.cfm?articleID=1076; Miller, Chaz, Recycling Works! Recycling Creates Jobs and
Strengthens the Economy, Waste360 (July 2009), available at
http://waste360.com/Recycling_And_Processing/recycling-creates-jobs-strengthens-economy-200907.
13
More Jobs, Less Pollution: Growing the Recycling Economy in the US, Telus Institute, November 2011.
http://www.recyclingworkscampaign.org/2011/11/more-jobs-less-pollution/
14
Those states are Connecticut, Illinois, Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, Indiana, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Vermont, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, and California. Additionally, the Arkansas state legislature granted authority to
state’s Department of Environmental Quality to ban e-waste from landfills, but a ban hasn’t been put in place
yet.
11