LG Electronics USA is leveraging its leadership in electronics recycling during the America Recycles Day, organized by Keep America Beautiful. Sponsoring electronics recycling events from Colorado to Virginia this week, LG is encouraging consumers to jump on the “I Recycle” bandwagon, the theme of the 2011 America Recycles Day, which takes place officially today, November 15.

Millions of Americans have pledged to increase their recycling habits at home and at work over the 14-year history of America Recycles Day, a nationally-recognized initiative dedicated to encouraging people to recycle more at home, at work and on the go, according to Matthew M. McKenna, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, Inc.

As the exclusive consumer electronics national sponsor for America Recycles Day, LG has been doing its part by co-hosting two dozen electronics recycling events in 2011, while emphasizing the importance of replacing old electronics and appliances with Energy Star qualified products. So far this year, LG has collected more than 10 million pounds of unused and unwanted electronics products for responsible recycling.

“The LG Electronics Recycling Program provides consumers with a convenient and responsible way to dispose of used, unwanted, obsolete or damaged consumer electronics products,” said Wayne Park, President and CEO, LG Electronics USA. “After recycling their old products, consumers can save energy by upgrading to Energy Star qualified products,” Park continued, encouraging consumers to join LG in taking the “Change the World, Start with Energy Star” pledge and save energy by recycling old products.

“Recycling not only protects the environment, it strengthens the community,” said McKenna. “The simple act of recycling creates the impetus for innovation in industry and fosters green jobs. Recycling can save communities money through more efficient waste management, and significantly reduces energy costs and demands on our natural resources. Ultimately, recycling improves a community’s cohesion and impacts the local quality of life.”

About Keep America Beautiful, Inc.

Keep America Beautiful, Inc., established in 1953, is the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of over 1.200 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community environments.

To join America Recycles Day, visit americarecyclesday.org. To learn more about Keep America Beautiful, visit www.kab.org.

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Recycling is an easy way for all of us to help protect the environment and conserve natural resources. While recycling plastic, glass, and paper has been widely adopted in the United States, many people don’t recognize the importance of properly recycling their electronic waste (e-waste) or do not know what to do with unwanted electronics.

E-waste is the fastest growing segment of the municipal waste stream in the U.S. with over three million tons of electronics generated each year of which only 14% is recovered for recycling.

The rest typically ends up in landfills. Electronics should not be disposed of in one’s household trash because most contain heavy metals such as lead (an average older computer monitor, for example, may contain 4-7 lbs. of lead) batteries, mercury, and cadmium.

In observation of America Recycles Day on November 15, 2011, ECOvanta, a state-of-the-art recycling facility that properly recycles electronic waste such as computers, monitors, mobile phones, printers, and televisions, offers the following tips for handling consumer e-waste:

REUSE & RECYCLE

• First, figure out what you want to be done with the equipment. If you want to provide a community service and don’t have any data security needs, donating may be the way to go. If your equipment is not in working order or you want it destroyed for security reasons, you will want to have it demanufactured and recycled.

• Donating used (but still operating) electronics for reuse extends the life of valuable products before they need to be properly disposed. Before you donate, make sure the equipment works and someone can use it. Many organizations that accept donations may be limited in what they can repair/upgrade and put back into service, so ask first.

• Over 1,000 or more counties and municipalities across the U.S. offer computer and electronics collection programs as part of household hazardous waste collections, special events, or other arrangements. Depending on where you live and the amount of equipment you have, contact your county or municipality or go on their website to see when the next electronics recycling event will take place.

• State Departments of Environmental Protection websites are also a good resource to see who is a licensed electronics recycler within your state and where they are located.

• Some large box stores (online and off-line) also accept electronics for recycling whether you purchased the item from them or not. Some even offer credit rewards!

• Whether you decide to donate used electronics for reuse or turn components in for recycling, always remember to completely erase data from any electronics with a hard drive such as cell phones, smart phones, computers, and printers.

Recycling electronics helps reduce the environmental impact that would be generated while manufacturing a new product and the need to extract valuable and limited virgin resources from the earth. It also reduces the energy used in new product manufacturing. According to the U.S. EPA, recycling one million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by 3,657 U.S. homes in a year

ECOvanta safely manages end-of-life electronics using a combination of manual disassembly and an automated shredding system to separate materials into commodities for recycling. The facility also offers secure destruction services for customers who require assured and certified destruction of their electronic equipment.

For more information on how to responsibly handle e-waste, please visit ecovanta.com.

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