Universal waste. It’s not a term that’s on the tip of town leaders’ tongues.

But it will be.

In two short years, municipal recycling centers must make space for two of the heaviest hitters of universal waste – TVs and computer monitors.

Universal waste is defined as a type of hazardous waste containing mercury, lead or PCBs that is widely generated by both individuals and businesses.

By Jan. 1, 2006, it will be against the law for residents to throw anything into the hopper that contains a lead-lined cathode ray tube video display. The law was passed during the last legislative session.

Most towns and cities have already begun to collect and separate the lighter stuff of universal waste, such as fluorescent light bulbs, or mercury thermometers and thermostats. But only a few municipal recycling centers have started to handle the bulkier universal waste.

“Potentially there are tens of thousands of these things waiting to be put into the system,” said Sam Morris, senior planner with the state’s Waste Management and Recycling Program. “And there’s going to be a real kick in the system as the flat-screen technology becomes cheaper and cheaper.”

Flat screen monitors do not contain the lead in CRT displays.

Oxford County Recycling in Norway, which serves 19 towns, recently received a $35,000 State Planning Office grant to build a 20-by-60-foot addition to its recycling plant to handle universal waste. The money was part of $900,000 granted by the state to help municipalities create the infrastructure to collect universal waste.

Other grants this year went to the towns of Leeds, $12,000; Oxford, $6,500; and Wilton, $7,000.

“The average TV screen contains 7 to 8 pounds of lead,” said Oxford County Recycling Manager Warren Sessions. Computers are replaced, on average, every five years. “I see them going through the hole daily,” he said, referring to the hopper at the adjacent Norway-Paris Transfer Station.

That’s a lot of heavy metal. And it ends up in the environment, whether the items are incinerated or placed in a landfill, Morris said.

When the 21-town Sandy River Recycling of Farmington held a one-time electronics collections day a few years back, “We filled a trailer truck from eight in the morning ’till three in the afternoon,” said Manager Ron Slater. More than 7 tons was collected.

Sandy River Recycling received a $2,500 state grant to add on to its recycling building to handle universal waste, but hasn’t implemented the program yet.

“We started a couple of years ago so that when 2006 comes around, we’re all ready to go,” Slater said.

Like the city of Auburn, which received a $6,000 universal waste grant, Sandy River Recycling is delaying implementation of CRT recycling because of concerns over cost.

“A lot of the towns are feeling unsure of how they should charge for this,” said Carol Fuller, environmental planner for the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments. Unlike other recyclables, universal waste is not a money-maker for the towns, but an expense. “It’s a big issue.”

Last September, mandatory recycling of TVs and computers began at the Lisbon Transfer and Recycling Center, which built a 20-foot by 32-foot addition with a $7,000 state grant and $5,000 in town money.

Lisbon’s charges $5 per item brought in. Residents are adjusting to the cost, but only reluctantly, said plant Director Wayne Ricker.

“Either you’re paying through a disposal fee or paying through your taxes. I thought the fairest way was to have the ones who are bringing it in pay for it,” he said.

But a $5 fee doesn’t begin to cover the cost to towns for disposal of TVs and computers, said Morris. Recycling vendors – the ones who actually break down the universal waste to its component parts – charge by the pound.

The recycling centers pay around 21 cents a pound to the vendors, which translates to a cost of $8 to $12 per unit, depending on its weight.

One of the very first regional recycling centers to handle the heavy electronics was the Tri-Community Landfill in Caribou. At first it charged $2 a unit. Now it charges $10 for a 24-inch or smaller TV. Any TV over 25 inches is charged a $20 disposal fee. Computer monitors are $6.

Tri-Community Landfill worker Marjorie Bither said the board doesn’t dare raise the fees to cover actual disposal costs.

“Tires are bad enough. But you start charging too much and you’re going to see TVs and computers dumped (along back roads) too,” she said.

“Even though we’ve been doing it for a year and a half it’s brand new,” Bither said. “But a lot of it is education. When the kids now are grown up it’s going to be an automatic thing.”

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com

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