CE industry recycled 660M pounds in 2014

The consumer electronics industry has reached a new milestone: It recycled 660 million pounds of used electronics products last year.

The number is the CE industry’s highest ever annual total, and the U.S. is now recycling CE products in record numbers, according to the Fourth Annual Report of the eCycling Leadership Initiative, led by the Consumer Electronics Association.

“Since the first year of the eCycling Leadership Initiative, we’ve continued to see strong gains in the amount of electronics recycled and resources available for consumers to recycle their old devices,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. “Never before have consumers had this kind of access and awareness to recycling resources. With this Initiative, we want to make it as easy for people to recycle their old electronics as it is to purchase new ones.”

ELI’s annual recycling total increased by more than six percent in 2014, 40 million pounds above the 2013 level (620 million pounds) and more than double the amount recycled before the Initiative’s inception in 2010 (300 million pounds). The report also disclosed the following notable achievements:

• More than 8,500 responsible recycling locations are now available to consumers throughout the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico

• By the end of 2014, nearly all (99.9 percent) of the recycling facilitated by ELI participants was conducted in third-party certified recycling facilities

• In partnership with Young Minds Inspired, CEA produced and distributed school curriculum programs on eCycling in English and Spanish for fourth, fifth and sixth grade classes. Making consumers aware of the importance and ease of recycling old electronics and the many resources available to help do so is a key aspect of the Initiative.

“According to CEA research, the average U.S. household owns roughly 28 different CE devices,” said Walter Alcorn, vice president of environmental affairs and industry sustainability, CEA. “And thanks to the rapid pace of innovation, our electronics devices are becoming lighter than ever. So even as we see continued increases in the total weight of CE recycled – about six percent more than last year’s total – we are continuing to recycle an even greater percentage of CE than in years past.”