NEPSI (National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative) discussions revealed that knowledge of the distribution of product brands that are sold and received for recycling is important information in developing a system of equitably funding the shared responsibility model for the product stewardship of end-of-life electronics. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is conducting a brand distribution project for electronic products. Funding assistance is provided by 3 electronic equipment manufacturers – HP, Panasonic and Sharp – and Region 4 of the US EPA. Five Florida-based electronics recycling companies have collected the data from loads of electronics received for recycling in Florida:
  • Creative Recycling Systems (Tampa)
  • E-Scrap, Inc. (Hialeah)
  • Jack’s Recycling (Jacksonville)
  • Quicksilver Recycling Services (Tampa)
  • Secure Environmental Electronic Recycling [SEER] (Tampa)

Since April 2004, we have sorted, by product and brand, more than 100 loads of electronic products collected for recycling in Florida. We also collected data on the year each product was manufactured, if those data can be easily identified from product labeling. Weights of the individual products were also recorded when facility operational constraints allowed that. The targeted products are collected from the residential and small business sources that are generally served by county recycling or thrift store donation services.

Detailed data from this project are available through custom software. Click here to install this software and data on your computer. To see the data, you should create a shortcut on your desktop to c:\esort_data\esort.exe after running the install program and double-click the shortcut. If you need help installing or using this software, contact Mr. Jack Griffith 850.245.8748.

The following electronic product categories and subcategories will be used for this project:

1. TVs
   1. Size
      1. consoles
      2. > 19” tabletops
      3. ≤ 19” tabletops
      4. projection
   2. Display Type
      1. Flat panel
      2. CRT
2. Monitors (excluding dumb terminals)
   1. Flat panel
   2. CRT
3. Computers
   1. CPUs desktop
   2. Laptops/notebooks
4. Computer desktop peripherals
   1. Printers
   2. Scanners
   3. Copiers
   4. Fax machines
   5. Multifunction devices
5. Video peripherals
   1. VCRs
   2. DVD players (including programmable TiVo-type)
6. Telecommunications devices (desk phones, mobile phones, pagers, PDAs, etc.)
7. Audio equipment (stereos, radios, tape players, speakers, etc.)
8. Other (does not fit any other product category, e.g., microwaves, typewriters, computer parts, dumb terminals)

For Categories 1-5, we will collect brand, manufacturer (if different than brand) and year of manufacture (if on the product label). For Categories 1-5, we will also collect total pounds for subcategories. For Categories 6-8 we would just collect total pounds. With these weights, we can characterize the percentage split of the sorted escrap stream by product category.

This project has also assembled information on the distribution of product brands that are sold during roughly the same time period for which products received for recycling are sorted. The focus is on product categories and subcategories 1-4 that are sold to home and small business users. A comparison of these two data sets (products sold; products received for recycling) could be a useful exercise for the product stewardship system discussion. A complete project report containing aggregated data and a comparison of products sold and products received for recycling is available to the public.

Periodic email updates on the results of the load brand sorts are provided to interested parties. For more information and to receive email updates, contact Jack Price, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 850.245.8751.