State continues effort to deal with e-waste

It had to happen — in the world of email and e-commerce, we’re also producing e-trash. The DNR’s Merry Rankin says those hi-tech cell phones, computers monitors and other electronic equipment could make toxic trash in a landfill, and the agency’s stepping up the effort to get you to “E-cycle” it.In a recent study of e-waste, the DNR found computer systems, monitors and central processors and TV sets made up the greatest volume of e-garbage. In 2001 274-thousand personal computers became obsolete, and if every one of them went to the dump, it’d fill the Capitol dome ten times over. Rankin says there’s growing concern about heavy metals that could leak from the 21st-century trash. She says cathode ray tubes in the TV or monitor contain up to five pounds of lead. In plastic materials, Rankin says decomposing in a dump can release toxins from fireproofing chemicals.But the primary two concerns are the lead and heavy metals from CRTs.