14 DAY TRIAL // The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is working in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to support an ingenious recycling competition entitled “New Uses for Recycled Glass.”
Both organizations are encouraging participants to come up with innovative methods of reusing or recycling the cathode ray tubes, (CRTs) they no longer need, in an eco-friendly manner.
The best strategy will receive a substantial reward of $5,000 (€3,749), offered by the CEA. The judges will select the winning recycling strategy after analyzing the list of economic, environmental and health benefits it provides.
The green partners want to make sure no creative participant will leave empty-handed, so they have already announced up to four additional prizes of $1,000 (€749).
“The consumer electronics industry is committed to the mission of eCycling and this challenge has the potential for electronics recycling to take a giant step forward. We’re very excited about this Challenge and the innovative solutions it could yield,” affirms Walter Alcorn, vice president of environmental affairs and industry sustainability, CEA.
The CEA and the EDF will announce the eco-friendly winners of this competition on December 14, so there is plenty of time to subscribe.
The most amazing idea will be broadly publicized and shared with manufacturers, recyclers and retailers all across the globe. The main goal is to innovate the way lead-heavy glass is currently handled after its life has ended.
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) glass is a material no longer used on a large commercial scale, as its place has been taken by modern new liquid crystal and plasma displays.
In this context, a proper recycling market for this element has vanished into thin air. Moreover, because CRT glass contains lead, a metal that can put people's heath in danger, these components can't undergo a common glass-to-glass recycling process.
Even in these conditions, almost one billion pounds of CRT TVs and monitors are expected to be discarded only in the US, within the next decade.
This is why both organizations want to encourage new means of recycling, meant to reveal improvements in the consumers' conduct and also environmentally-friendly ways of disposing of potential hazardous trash.