State Agencies Toss E-Waste In Trash

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 25, 2008 at 10:33 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The California state auditor says five state agencies improperly tossed hazardous electronic waste into the trash. That material is supposed to be recycled. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has de

The California state auditor says five state agencies improperly tossed hazardous electronic waste into the trash. That material is supposed to be recycled. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The auditor's review was requested by San Diego Assemblymember Lori Saldaña and two other lawmakers.

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State Auditor Elaine Howell says the DMV, Employment Development Department, Caltrans, Justice Department and Highway Patrol tossed computers and fax machines in the trash instead of recycling them.

Howell: We found at five major state agencies that was not happening. Electronic waste was ending up in the trash therefore ending up in landfills.

Most of the e-waste contains hazardous materials that contaminate soil and groundwater if disposed of in landfills.

Howell says one unit of the CHP threw away 354 electronic devices.

She says the DMV paid to have copy machines removed when many recyclers would have disposed of them for free.

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The agencies say their employees' didn't know about the disposal guidelines.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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