>>ANNOUNCER: Promoting a healthy environment...
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Environment Matters.
>>MAN: We can usually get a couple of truckloads out in January and February
because people, of course you know, upgrade for Christmas...
>>KATHY COSCO: You've got the latest technology, but what to do with all that old stuff?
The challenges and the opportunities of electronics recycling...
plus...
>>WOMAN: It's giving back to the Earth.
I think it's great. >>KATHY COSCO: Old trees are getting a new life in West Virginia's
lakes.
It's good for the environment and the state's economy.
Hello everyone and welcome to Environment Matters.
I'm Kathy Cosco with the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection.
If you're like most of us, you or someone in your home probably got a new
piece of consumer electronics this past holiday season
but with that shiny new phone, computer or flat screen tv comes the problem of
what to do with the old one --
and it's a problem that's getting bigger.
Sales of electronic devices have more than doubled in the last ten years with
mobile devices is leading the way.
>>JIM JOHNSTON: We're such a
users society. I mean with the
the cell phones it seems like every six months kids are throwing out their cell phones,
getting new cell phones. Computers, you know, have a short shelf life.
Now your TVs... In the past, you had a lot of TVs that would have a --
people would keep fifteen -- twenty years. But now
a three to five year life span is about all there is on TVs. So electronics
are changing continuously...
your games that the kids play, you know, the things that you use in everyday --
things from banking to lawyers to hospitals... the schools...
It's all advancing so much there's going to be
a lot, lot, lot more electronic waste than we have today. >>KATHY: Goodwill industries
partners with Dell computers to recycle old computers and related electronics.
For them, the holiday season is a busy time of year.
>>MARK ADAMS: We usually see a pickup from
people who are upgrading. January is a fairly busy month. We can usually get a
couple truckloads out January and February
because people, of course, you know, they'll upgrade for Christmas so
we'll get
some older model laptops. We'll get some older model flat panels.
The folks who still have a few of the CRT monitors laying around...
We'll get a few more those, so yeah,
now is a pretty good time for us. >>KATHY: But for trash haulers
and landfill operators, what to do with all those unwanted electronics
becomes more of a challenge and that's where specialized electronics recyclers
come in. >>BILL FLENNER: It can become fairly difficult to find that kind of
recycler,
if you will, and as
time goes on
more people kinda join in the business
and I think there's going to be
more outlets on its way. It just takes time to develop the market. It costs money
to recycle this stuff
and you can't last very long if you don't have some kind of a
source of income and you don't have a market to get rid of your...
the stuff you're recycling...
so it makes it really really tough...
and what makes it hard is like landfills are required to take this
stuff and they have to store it
onsite and then they they do get contracts with recyclers. The recyclers to
come and haul to stuff off. But it's a fairly
complex,
if you will, system that has to happen
so the stuff is disposed of safely. >>KATHY: But all that stuff is finding its way
into some interesting new uses...
>>JIM: We make plastics into polyvinyl lumber.
We take the unleaded glass -- we can add that with natural stone
making marble floor tile,
base and chair rail and crown molding.
Leaded glass, we can grind that up an add it
to some...
add some stuff to it to make aggregate for cement
where the concrete will not leach -- the lead will not leach into the
soils
and we've just patented a new way to take the
rare earth minerals out between the
LCD panels... How to remove that,
so we are both recycling and upcycling electronic products. >>KATHY: Electronics are not
the only things getting recycled after the holiday season.
The DEP's Sarah Alford joins us now with a solution to what to do with
that dried out used Christmas tree...
>>SARAH ALFORD: That's right, Kathy.
Keeping these trees out of the landfill is the main goal of the DEP's annual
Christmas tree recycling event.
But what can you do with an old tree?
The answer is simple: you sink it...
This pile of trees is not headed for the wood chipper. Instead
these trees are going for a boat ride.
A joint program between the DEP,
the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers is improving fish habitat in lakes all around the state.
>>ZACK BROWN: A lot of the trees were removed
when they constructed
these reservoirs early on.
It was thought that they would
provide more flood storage and not
impact boaters but
in the reservoirs that were later constructed, the DNR asked they leave some of the
standing timber
and
these Christmas trees, recycled Christmas trees
can be
used as kind of a
substitute
for the leaving of the natural standing timber.
>>SARAH: This is the ninth year for the DEP's Christmas tree recycling program.
>>CHRISTY MORRIS: Oh, I think it's wonderful!
It's much better than just throwing it on a curb and it
ending up in a trash heap somewhere. And it
rejuvenates the
lakes for the fish and
wildlife and
it's giving back to the Earth.
I think it's great.
>>SARAH: Christy Morris is just one of dozens of people stopping at Charleston's
Capitol Market on a recent chilly Saturday to drop off their used Christmas
tree.
Last year, the program provided more than five hundred trees for fish
habitat.
Organizers say that number is expected to grow this year.
>>DANNY HAUGHT: They take them and put them in bundles and they'll replace the ones from last year so when they stock the fish
the smaller fish will have a place to breed, hide and feed and so
it produces quality stock and the anglers all over the state of WV, from their feedback it's been very successful.
>>SARAH: and catching fish also means
catching tourism dollars.
West Virginia has some of the best sport fishing waters in the Eastern United
States
and the word is getting around.
More than a quarter of anglers fishing our rivers, lakes and streams are actually
visitors from out of state --
an economic boost to West Virginia that, every year, adds up to millions of
dollars.
Kathy, the project typically gathers enough trees to improve the fish habitat
in about half a dozen lakes
around the state.
In Charleston, I'm Sarah Alford for Environment Matters.
>>KATHY: Thanks Sarah...
the program is a joint project between the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection, the Division of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers.
It's that time again. Time for your groupe or volunteer organization to sign
up for this year's statewide Make It Shine spring cleanup.
Volunteers can register with the DEP through March 1st to participate in
the cleanups which take place during the first two weeks of April.
The DEP provides clean up materials like trash bags and gloves and takes
care of waste hauling and landfill fees.
During last year's spring clean up, more than forty eight hundred volunteers
removed roughly two hundred twenty tons of litter and debris from the state's
public lands and waters.
To find out more call us at
800-322-5530
or check out the REAP section of our website
dep.wv.gov
Coming up,
you plant a seed, you water and nurture it
and before you know it,
a tree grows. And that's the thinking behind a series of mini-grants.
Why local communities are lining up for a chance to plant that seed. That's just
ahead, plus... >>GREG: I'm Greg Adolfson in Williamson where they're taking a community
approach to sustainability.
Those stories and more when Environment Matters continues.