Indiana's E-Waste Recycling Law

Our selected reading from The Story of Stuff over the possible risks of producing electronic items such as laptops and cell phones greatly sparked my interest.  Modern America has become immensely consumed by the use of cell phones, laptop computers, televisions, and other electronic products.  Annie Leonard highlights the issue at hand: the increase in demand for electronic products directly correlates with an increase in hazardous compounds released during production poisoning workers and surrounding communities in the process.  When I began doing more research on this topic online I discovered that while production of electronics presents significant environmental risks that have yet to be fully resolved, there is an even more serious issue at hand.

With new versions of electronic products being released more and more frequently, consumers have the enticing temptation of ditching their old product and upgrading to the newer version.  The question becomes, what happens to these electronic products that are no longer wanted? The answer is that these products become e-waste.  Controlling e-waste has become a key focus of state legislatures in recent years as electronics continue to become more widely used and discarded.  In May of 2009, Indiana became the nineteenth state to pass a law that creates a statewide e-waste recycling program.

There remains no national law in place to regulate e-waste; and until this changes, Indiana hopes to remain a leader in this movement of safe disposal of electronic waste. While Indiana's E-Waste Program is one of the better proposals among states that have enacted similar movements, e-waste will continue to present serious environmental and health hazards until more strict regulations are established at the national level.  Proper e-waste disposal and recycling is a very serious concern and should be treated this way.   Our government needs address this issue sooner rather than later before serious irreversible damage is done to our ecosystem by the hazardous toxins which could be released by these discarded electronic items.