ResultsDiscussionSung Kim E-Waste Recycling 5/09/05p. 1Analysis of Santa Clara Residents’ Electronic Waste Recycling BehaviorSung KimAbstract Prior study showed that the most of Santa Clara residents are not aware of nearby e-waste recycling facilities. The existence of this annual clean-up campaign may give residents anopportunity to dispose of e-waste and limits their motivation to take e-waste to the recyclingfacilities. This study investigates the history of residents’ electric waste disposal habits and thecity’s role in educating residents about recycling e-waste. Randomly selected residents in front offour popular electronic stores near Santa Clara are surveyed about their knowledge and behaviorregarding e-waste recycling programs in Santa Clara City. The results show that residents whoare uninformed about e-waste recycling programs in Santa Clara are more likely to dispose of e-waste during the city’s annual clean-up campaign. Although the city mails brochures andadvertises on the city web site to motivate residents to participate in recycling program, Iconclude that the city has not effectively educated residents. If the city is capable of puttingmore effort on educating residents and making it more convenient for residents to recycle e-waste, the city’s landfill space can be conserved and less toxic may be flowing into ecosystemaround the city.Sung Kim E-Waste Recycling 5/09/05p. 2IntroductionIncreasing demand for more advanced electronic equipment and the trend of replacing ratherthan upgrading old electronic equipment (Toxic Link 2004) rapidly generate huge amounts ofelectric waste. Electric waste can be defined as computers, VCRs, DVDs, copiers, fax machines,printers, televisions, cellular phones that are not used. These obsolete electronics are stored inwarehouse or are sent to landfill or incinerator facilities (Wood 2001). Studies show thatapproximately seventy-five percent of out-dated electronics are stored in warehouses, andaccording to the EPA more than 3.2 million tons of e-waste ended up in landfills in the U.S in1997. (Computer Recyclers of America 2003). Another estimation of e-waste was at the end of1999 twenty four million computers in the U.S. became obsolete, but only about fourteen percentwere recycled or donated (Sloan 2000). More than twenty million computers in the U.S. are“dumped, incinerated, shipped as waste exports or put into temporary storage in attics,basements, etc” (Wood 2001). In California alone approximately two to three million tons of e-wastes are generated per year, according to the City of Los Angeles Environmental AffairsDepartment (LAEA Dep. 2003). Currently, electric waste represents about two to five percent ofthe national municipal waste stream, and it is expected to increase by three to five percent peryear (Arensman 2000).The short life span of electronic products is considered to be the main cause of increasing e-waste. According to the U.S. National Safety Council, the estimated average life span for PCs is3.1 years, cathode ray tube is 4-7 years, printers are 3-5 years, and scanners is 3-5 years.According to NSC’s report, the life span of a PC is expected to decrease and level off to twoyears by 2005 (NSC 1999), which means, “one computer will become obsolete for each one puton the market” (True Cycle 2003).The rapid rate of increasing electric waste has become a threat to the environment and humanhealth. The consequence of the e-waste dumped in landfills or burned in incinerators is therelease of heavy metals and the dioxins, which pollute the air (BA Network 2002). About 70%of heavy metals found in landfills (including mercury and cadmium) come from electronicdiscards and heavy metals and other hazardous substances found in electronics can contaminategroundwater (CRA 2003). Moreover, electronic equipment often contain other toxic elementssuch as batteries, mercury switches, sensors, and relays (Engler 2001), and these are consideredto be toxic and hazardous elements to the environment and human health (Shelly 2001).Sung Kim E-Waste Recycling 5/09/05p. 3Despite the fact that e-waste contains harmful elements, most households and smallbusinesses send obsolete electronic equipment to landfills or incinerators rather than take them tothe recycling systems (CRA 2003). The San Francisco Toxics Coalition states that “threequarters of all computers ever bought in the U.S. are sitting in people's attics and basementsbecause they don't know what to do with them” (Wood 2001). These computers, which may beeffectively reused in the future, are losing their potential value, and many people may find itmore convenient and economical to simply throw away e-waste than to recycle it.Philip J. Chen, a former ES 196 student, carried out a simple survey to find out residents’awareness of a computer-recycling center in Santa Clara City. His survey concluded that a largepercentage of residents were unaware of a computer recycling facility and had thrown awaycomputer components before. (Chen 2001)However, as a five year resident of Santa Clara, I believe that residents’ ignorance is notmerely due to the apathy, but rather the city is not adequately informing citizens about recyclingprograms or facilities in their area. I have never received any brochures from city explainingabout electric waste recycling facilities. Moreover, the city of Santa Clara holds the curb-sidepick up campaign annually, and the main purpose of this campaign is to dispose of bulky wastesthat are not routinely collected by weekly garbage collection services. Because of this campaign,Santa Clara residents use it as an easy way to dispose of old electric waste. According to theStreet Dept Corporation Yard of Santa Clara city, the city collects and recycles televisions andcomputer monitors that contain cathode ray tubes separately, but other e-wastes are takendirectly to the landfills.One objective of my study is to investigate why Santa Clara residents’ have low awareness ofrecycling facilities. I hypothesize that the disposal system of Santa Clara City limits residents’motivation to recycle e-wastes. In particular, I believe that by providing an annual clean upcampaign, the city of Santa Clara gives residents an opportunity to throw away obsolete electricequipment. I believe that Santa Clara residents have low awareness of
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