Palm Springs, CA –The Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), in conjunction with Canon, Hewlett Packard, JVC, Kodak, Nokia, Panasonic, Philips Consumer Electronics North America, Sharp, Sony and Thomson multimedia, today announced it would award grants to U.S. EPA Region III, the State of Florida and the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) as a part of its industry short-term recycling project.

Through its short-term recycling project, EIA hopes to generate data that will contribute to the development of efficient and cost-effective recycling programs in the United States. EIA announced the grant winners at its Environmental Issues Council Meeting at the Consumer Electronics Association's Fall Conference.

"The end-of-life management of electronics is a relatively new and complex issue, and one that involves many stakeholders," said Dave McCurdy, President of EIA. "Consumers, recyclers, governments, manufacturers and retailers all have a role to play in promoting the re-use and recycling of used electronics. We need to examine what works best under different models and and how each stakeholder can contribute to the development of an effective solution. With our short-term project, we hope to provide real-world examples of what factors into a successful electronics recycling program."

This one-year project complements and supports current recycling efforts for electronic equipment at the national, regional and local levels. EIA grants must be used to fund the recycling of household electronic equipment or data collection and assessment.

EIA received proposals from over twenty federal, state and local governments and interest groups. Grantees were chosen by a number of criteria, including a willingness to test different recycling models and favorable regulatory conditions for electronics collection. Several variations of municipal and retailer models will be tested.

EIA's Industry Recycling Grant Program builds upon the electronic industry's commitment to reduce environmental impact of electronic products over their entire life cycle - from their design to their end-of-life management. This program is one of several initiatives undertaken by industry as part of EIA's Product Ecology Initiative. This initiative includes specific industry tools that help member companies reduce the environmental impact of their products over their entire lifecycles. In addition to the Recycling Grant Program, tools include participation in EPA's Energy Star Program, EIA's Design for the Environment Program and EIA's Consumer Education Initiative, a web-based tool for consumers to find local re-use and recycling opportunities for their used electronics.

For more information about the EIA Short Term Recycling Project, please see our two-page fact sheet.