eLoop LLC, a major recycler of electronics waste in Western Pennsylvania, announced in late December it is withdrawing from the state program designed to have manufacturers pay for the recycling of e-waste in 8 counties surrounding Pittsburgh because the program is no longer working.

Overall, eLoop will be reducing its e-waste recycling locations from 35 to just 14 in 2016.

Ned Eldridge, President & CEO of eLOOP, said his company is pulling out of e-waste recycling because the 5-year old state law structures the program in a way that allows manufacturers to get out of paying to recycle all the e-waste his company is collecting.

Eldridge said in 2015 eLoop collect 7.5 million pounds of e-waste in Western PA, but under the complicated process required by the state’s electronics recycling law, electronics manufacturers will only pay for an allocation of 5 million pounds in the coming year.

The 8 counties affected by the change generated 2.5 million pounds of e-waste in 2015: Allegheny, Armstrong, Franklin, Huntingdon, Indiana, Mercer, Washington and Westmoreland.

eLoop said it would like to continue e-waste recycling in these and other counties, but only a fee-for-service basis only.

Eldridge noted he and his company have been working to get the state’s e-waste recycling law changed to better provide for recycling, but so far without success.

He said he favored a process where counties would bid out their e-waste recycling and manufacturers would pay whatever the winning bid was for the material collected, instead of the complicated allocation process now in the law.

For more information on its services, visit the eLoop LLC website.

For background on the recycling electronics law, visit DEP’s Electronics Recycling webpage.

NewsClips:

Counties Grapple With How To Keep E-Waste Recycling Afloat

York County Legislators Working On Electronic Waste Recycling

Peters, South Fayette Twps Looking For E-Waste Recycler

Residents Can Smell End To Tullytown Landfill Nuisance

Keep PA Beautiful 2015 International Coastal Cleanup Totals

Homework: PRC Compost Workshops In Allegheny County

Related Stories:

Electronics Recycling Assn Of PA Calls For Action On PA’s E-Waste Law

Op-Ed: Pennsylvania Electronics Recycling Rules Not Easily Met

Analysis: Electronics Recycling Effort Shrinking In PA, The Law Needs To Be Fixed

1/25/2016