As more and more people become technologically savvy, the numbers of owners of electronic equipment will increase -- and with the changing nature of electronics, the new computer or cell phone quickly becomes obsolete.

The result is mountains of e-waste, which experts say can be dangerous to the environment.

Hazardous elements -- lead, barium, cadmium, mercury and chromium -- found in electronics can be dangerous if they're compacted at landfills in large quantities.

At least one expert, however, says the real danger is not landfill disposal, it's improper disposal.

Aiken-based Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority landfill Manager Colin Covington says the facility is secure and the public does not have to worry about waste entering into the environment or being a hazard.

Covington said e-waste as an environmental hazard is typically misunderstood.

"Though hazardous metals are contained in e-waste, they have not been shown to be a hazard to the environment because, contained in a Subtitle D landfill, they do not leak out of the appliance," he said. "The public should be concerned about the improper disposal but not the proper disposal."

Three Rivers is a Subtitle D landfill that is only allowed to receive e-waste from residential sources. A Subtitle D landfill is an engineered structure built into or on the ground that is designed to isolate waste from the environment. Landfills operate in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency's Subtitle D regulations.

But keeping e-waste out of the landfills is a challenge as electronic recycling companies are few and far between.

Global Invest Recovery in Salley is one of 1,200 electronic recyclers in North America that takes electronic refuse from businesses around the country.

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded Global Investment Recovery a contract last July that could be worth up to $11 million. The company destroys hard drives and sorts the rest for reuse or recycling with about 200 companies. GIR has a warehouse facility in North and another in Swansea. The company does not accept household electronics.

GIR, which employs about 70, takes computer and television monitors and pays a lead-recycling company to take them.

Under its federal contract, the company removes hard drives and places them in a bin in a secure section of the plant.

Computers are checked and given a bar code label.

If they are scrapped, they are sorted and disassembled.

The computer drives are taken to a secure area and placed into a shredder.

Owner David Ritter says the entire facility is environmentally compliant under International Organization for Standardization environmental standards. The plant has an ISO compliance manager in place and, Ritter says, the plant has never been cited for an environmental violation.

"Training is big with us," Ritter said.

E-waste entering into the landfill is not unusual.

Only a handful of South Carolina counties have any e-waste recycling program in place. Orangeburg city and county are not one of them. About seven counties in the state have recycling programs in place for e-waste.

Orangeburg County Deputy Administrator of Public Works Earl Whalen said e-waste does not make up enough of the county's waste stream to warrant separate recycling.

The county does plan to place separate bins at its convenience sites for e-waste, but the material still will head to Three Rivers.

The lack of volume and the cost ineffectiveness of the project have not warranted a separate recycling effort, Whalen said.

"We don't really see a lot of that material in our waste stream," Whalen said, explaining the products are typically co-mingled among household garbage and taken to Three Rivers.

An example of how little e-waste comes through the county's collection system was illustrated during an America Recycles Day event held last year at the North Road Lowe's and Office Max. The four-hour event, held in conjunction with the Orangeburg Soil and Water Conservation District, yielded few collections.

"We tried a promo event," Whalen said, to see the extent of e-waste. "We got a little response."

Whalen said while the county does not collect all e-waste, it does collect some.

Cell phones and automobile and lawnmower batteries are collected.

Cell phones are donated to battered women shelters and batteries are recycled to different vendors such as the Golf Cart Center in North.

Whalen credits the small amount of e-waste to the tendency by many people to want to keep and fix or resell old computers rather than discarding them. He says most of the local e-waste comes from the business and industrial sector.

Orangeburg County recycles a number of products at its 21 convenience sites, including aluminum, plastic bottles and jugs, paper, textiles, used oil, filters and bottles, appliances (white goods), lead-acid batteries, cooking oil and scrap metal.

In fiscal year 2007, DHEC reports that Orangeburg County recycled 7,537 tons of solid waste resulting in an environmental impact equivalent to: eliminating electricity usage by 5,072 households or one year; 323 acres of forest preserved from deforestation; or conserving 4,500,590 gallons of gasoline.

Less than 52 tons of this are considered electronic waste.

The city of Orangeburg has maintained a curbside recycling program for several years under an arrangement with Columbia-based Paper Stock Dealers. The city provides residents with recycling bins and conducts pickups during the week.

Through the program -- which targets newspaper, plastics, glass and aluminum/tin cans -- officials estimate the city collects close to 84.12 tons of recyclables annually. About 17 percent of the city residents participate in the program.

The city also has a relationship with Sunshine Recycling, where white goods such as washing machines and hot water heaters are recycled.

South Carolina doesn't require counties to recycle electronic waste and nationally there are no federal regulations that deal with e-waste.

Statewide, about 60,144 tons of e-waste were generated last year. About 5 million tons of waste were generated.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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