South Carolina Making Moves to Head Off Electronic Waste

By Aaron Heath

After July 1, electronics MUST be recycled

A new South Carolina state law will come into effect on July 1 banning the waste disposal of electronic equipment. South Carolina will join 25 other states in their efforts to cutback on wasteful disposal of electronics. Specifically:

- Computers

- Monitors

- Printers

- Televisions

All equipment will have to be recycled from now on. Landfills caught accepting the equipment could face fines of up to $1000.

With technology progressing at an exponential rate, more and more electronics are being introduced into the marketplace while the rest simply go out of date faster. As this is happening the amount of plastic waste that is piling up is becoming unmanageable. Electronic waste is actually accumulating at three times the rate of normal household trash. These types of plastics and the materials contained in electronics are extremely toxic. Worst, these electronics account for over 70% of all toxic waste found in landfills. (See also this article on eWaste) Not only is manageability an issue, many of these electronics, while out of date for you or me, are usually still in working condition and could be donated and refurbished for use by others.

This will be a great way to cut down on unnecessary waste and make us more conscious of the materials that we do throw away. Here is a list of locations in South Carolina by County where you can dump your old electronics for recycling.

Would also like to cite the Post and Courier for help with this post.