So this week in class we talked about a new and innovative sustainability concept called EPEAT, which is a global rating system for greener electronics. Using EPEAT (“Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool”), purchasers in 43 countries can evaluate, compare and select electronics based on environmental attributes. Basically, EPEAT rates products on a lifecycle basis. The system addresses the elimination of toxic substances, the use of recycled and recyclable materials, product design for recycling, product longevity, energy efficiency, corporate performance and packaging attributes. Products are rated Gold, Silver or Bronze depending upon the number of environmental criteria they meet.
This topic got me really interested in the electronic industry, so I decided to do a little more research on EPEAT and the electronic recycling effort today. Surprisingly, I found out that currently there are a lot of electronic companies such as Dell and Hewlett Packard who have began experimenting with recovery and reuse initiatives. They have been working to create innovative closed-loop recycling systems in their business processes. But what was most interesting to me was the amount of money these electronic companies can make. According to a recent study by Trucost, if electronic companies increased the recycling rate to 100 percent industry-wide could generate an estimated $10 billion in cost savings and natural capital benefits. That's pretty crazy to think about, and I think that as more electronic companies realize the mass amounts of money they could be saving, more and more companies will begin to implement close-looped recycling systems in their business operations.
http://www.greenbiz.com/article/benefit-more-electronics-recycling-try-10-billion
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