More CRT's going to the landfills

**mikeinreco** · 12-14-2023, 09:17 PM

So you say the CRT glass is being "recycled"....where is the smelter actually doing this....have you seen the end of life process all the way to the end....the only thing I've seen is glass and plastic piled in warehouses with no economical way to process....would love to know because as far as I know noone is smelting the glass for the lead

**mikeinreco** · 12-15-2023, 03:34 AM

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wvl...outputType=amp

This was a warehouse full of ewaste plastic

**hills** · 12-15-2023, 04:30 AM

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

So you say the CRT glass is being "recycled"....where is the smelter actually doing this....have you seen the end of life process all the way to the end....the only thing I've seen is glass and plastic piled in warehouses with no economical way to process....would love to know because as far as I know noone is smelting the glass for the lead

I honestly don't know Mike. It's a three foot world at the Transfer Station. I do the best i can to keep everything within the gates of the place running like a well oiled machine firing on all cylinders. What happens outside the gates is beyond my control. I just have to trust that the contractors providing service to us are running their operations the way they're supposed to.

If you trust yourself ... you can trust others.

Of course ...people mess up all the time and break the trust. We're only human. It's expected. For all i know ... they might be dumping those CRT's in the ocean. Probably not though. The punishments for not doing things the way you're supposed to can be pretty severe.

Afterthought: I suppose the responsibility for end to end oversight would fall on the shoulders of the Maine DEP. They're the ones who license all the different ones up and down the e-waste supply chain here. It's their ewaste program. It's their rules & regulations. Enforcement would be up to them.

For whatever it's worth ... i tend to view the DEP inspectors as being law enforcement officers when they come through the transfer station. They're generally pretty good to get along with but i'm always mindful they carry quite a bit of authority.

**mikeinreco** · 12-15-2023, 07:18 AM

I doubt they are dumping in ocean but a certain amount still is dumped in ocean every year.....more than likely they are just filling a warehouse somewhere

**hills** · 12-15-2023, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

I doubt they are dumping in ocean but a certain amount still is dumped in ocean every year.....more than likely they are just filling a warehouse somewhere

It would be okay if they were in a warehouse. It was legal to store them indefinitely. The sense that i get is that the EPA got wise to that loophole though. Not sure ... but i think there's a one year time limit now. We do a bunch of toxic things besides bubbleback and flat screen tv's. We accept NiCad & Lithium ion batteries. Those get boxed up and sent out to a recycler via FedEx. We've got Freon appliances like fridges,freezers, ac's & dehumidifiers. A special outfit comes in from out of state. They pump out the Freon and the oil out of the sealed units. We do all kinds of fluorescent bulbs. They get boxed and shipped out via FedEx.

I've noticed that you have to list a start accumulating date and a finished accumulating date. There's a paper trail for every kind of thing. We also have to file yearly reports with the state DEP.

I'm glad that my boss back at the town office has to deal with all of the paperwork. That's a good job for him !