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  4. EPA Revises Recycling Standards for Cathode Ray Tubes

EPA Revises Recycling Standards for Cathode Ray Tubes

Date: July 19, 2006

Source: US EPA

The U.S. EPA hopes to encourage the collection and recycling of used cathode ray tubes (CRTs), most commonly found in TVs and computer monitors, by streamlining hazardous waste management requirements. Under the new provisions, used but unbroken CRTs will not be regulated as hazardous waste unless stored for more than a year. The EPA believes that the low risk of lead releases from unbroken CRTs justifies simplified standards.

The relaxed requirements are detailed in the EPA's Final Rules on Cathode Ray Tubes and Discarded Mercury-Containing Equipment. This rule adds mercury-containing equipment to the federal list of universal wastes regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste regulations. Handlers of universal wastes are subject to less stringent standards for storing, transporting, and collecting these wastes. The EPA has concluded that regulating spent mercury-containing equipment as a universal waste will lead to better management of this equipment and will facilitate compliance with hazardous waste requirements.

"A discarded CRT represents an opportunity lost," said EPA Assistant Administrator Susan Bodine in a press release. "This rule will help encourage the reuse and recycling of CRTs, which puts these resources back to productive use, rather than into the nation's landfills."

More information: www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/recycle/electron/crt.htm.

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