Coalition urges TV makers to offer free recycling programs

COALITION URGES TV MAKERS TO OFFER FREE RECYCLING PROGRAMS
[SOURCE: Associated Press]
A national recycling coalition says television manufacturers need to make it easier for American consumers to safely dispose of aging TVs, which can seep lead and other hazardous chemicals into the soil around dumps, often in China, Nigeria and other countries. Just 12.5 percent of electronics waste in the United States is offered for recycling each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And at least half of that amount, or more than 160,000 tons, is exported and dumped overseas. Robin Schneider, vice chair of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and executive director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, called electronic waste from TVs a "crisis in the making" because of skyrocketing consumer demand for high-definition sets. A Feb. 17, 2009, federal deadline will make millions of older analog sets obsolete.
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