[November 16, 2012]

CEA Congratulates MRM, Samsung as Leaders of eCycling Efforts in Massachusetts

The Consumer Electronics Association (News - Alert) (CEA)® today congratulates MRM and Samsung for receiving MassRecycles' Industry Recycling Awards for promoting recycling and waste reduction in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts:

• Samsung (News - Alert), a CEA member company, was the first company to embrace responsible recycling at the e-Stewards level by establishing the Samsung Recycling Direct program in 2008. As the largest, single-manufacturer television takeback program in the U.S., it has responsibly recycled nearly a quarter billion pounds in the U.S. since 2008, according to the e-Stewards standard for responsible recycling. In Massachusetts alone, the Samsung program has responsibly recycled more than 10 million pounds since 2010. MassRecycles honored Samsung for business innovation and providing voluntary, responsible recycling for communities throughout Massachusetts.
• Founded by CEA members Panasonic (News - Alert), Toshiba and Sharp, MRM provides a platform for electronics manufacturers and retailers to contribute to the development and management of a sustainable recycling system for electronics products. MassRecycles honored MRM for operating the largest voluntary electronics recycling network in the state, which has recycled more than 1.3 million pounds of electronics since 2011 at more than 17 locations across Massachusetts.

"Good environmental stewardship is a key tenet of the consumer electronics industry, and we are committed to make recycling electronics just as easy as purchasing electronics," said Walter Alcorn, vice president of environmental affairs and industry sustainability at CEA. "We're delighted to see electronics manufacturers and retailers being recognized for their voluntary efforts by state governments."

According to industry research, the average U.S. household owns 25 different consumer electronics products. CEA has been working in partnership with local, state and federal governments, as well as interested non-governmental organizations and other industry advocates to educate consumers on the availability and accessibility of electronics recycling locations. The industry's eCycling Leadership Initiative has issued a Billion Pound Challenge to responsibly recycle one billion pounds of electronics annually by 2016.

As of September 2012, the industry's eCycling Leadership Initiative had acieved the following:

• Participants of the eCycling Leadership Initiative arranged for the responsible recycling of 460 million pounds of CE products, a 53 percent increase over the 300 million pounds recycled in 2010.
• Electronics manufacturers and retailers increased the number of recycling drop-off locations for consumers nationwide to nearly 7,500 from just over 5,000 a year ago.
• By the end of 2011, 96 percent of the recycling done by eCycling Leadership Initiative participants was conducted in third-party certified recycling facilities.
• CEA launched GreenerGadgets.org to educate consumers about eCycling and energy consumption. By entering a ZIP code, anyone can locate the closest responsible recycling location sponsored by the CE industry and/or third-party certified recycler.

In addition, the CE Recycling and Reuse 2012 edition study found that nine in 10 consumers believe it's important to recycle their CE devices and 63 percent of consumers know where to recycle them. Overall sales of CE products are expected to reach a record high in 2012. As consumers purchase new electronics, they are removing more used CE products from their homes. Six in ten CE owners removed at least one device from their homes in the last year. Nearly half (48 percent) of those CE owners donated the device for reuse, and 26 percent recycled the device. Of those who donated a device, the majority (63 percent) gave it to friends and family.

For more information on the industry's eCycling efforts, please visit: CE.org/eCycle.

For more information MassRecycles' awards, please visit: http://www.massrecycle.org/index.php/2012-07-12-21-15-42/recycling-awards/overview.

About CEA:

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $206 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also owns and produces the International CES (News - Alert) - The Global Stage for Innovation. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA's industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org, www.DeclareInnovation.com and through social media: https://www.facebook.com/#!/CEAfeed, http://twitter.com/ceafeed, http://blog.ce.org/.

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