Two Democratic U.S. Senators — Amy Klobuchar of Minn. and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — introduced earlier this month legislation aimed at funding R&D efforts to improve to recycle e-waste and develop best practices and innovation in greener design of electronics.
The Electronic Device Recycling Research and Development Act, a nearly identical version of which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in April, provides almost $85 million over the next three years to help spur the growth of electronics recycling practices in the U.S. The bill, S. 1397, includes four main initiatives: providing grants for R&D into e-waste processes and practices, funding research into environmentally friendly materials for use in electronics, establishing educational curricula for engineering students at all levels to incorporate green design practices into electronics, and publishing a report from the National Academy of Sciences laying out the good and the bad in the current state of electronics recycling.
“For too long, too many people have been improperly dumping electronic devices without being aware of the dangerous effects on our environment,” Senator Gillibrand said in a statement. “This legislation is a win-win for protecting the environment and our families. It takes the right steps to develop the best methods to change the way we dispose of outdated and unused electronics, and the hazardous materials they often contain.”
The largest chunk of the proposed funding in the bill — $18 million in 2010, $20 million in 2011, and $22 million in 2012 — goes to research in just about every area of concern in green electronics, from design to disposal or reuse
