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the old item. A significant numbertake steps to properly dispose of these items. Thirty percent of homeowners and multi-family complex residents have taken their old appliances or electronics to a designated disposal facility. While 33% of homeowners and 18 percent of multi-family com- plex residents arranged a special pick up with their garbage hauler. However it is getter harder to donate electronic items to charities because they often received items that did not work or antiquated items for which there was no resale value. As a result some charities such as Goodwill and The Salvation Army no longer take electronics. Product Stewardship A growing trend for disposal in the electronics industry is called product stewardship. That is where a manufacturer agrees to steward the product through its life cycle. Thus the company does not forget about the computer or VCR once it is sold. Instead the company enacts a system to take back the item once a consumer no longer wants it. For example Sony will take back any of its electronic items at no additional cost to the consumer, retailer or electronics disposal com- pany. So when your Sony DVD player wears out you can take it back to a store that sells them such as Best Buy. Best Buy will take the item from the consumer at no charge and ship it back to Sony. Sony then reimburses Best Buy for its expenses in handling the item. In 2001 Panasonic and Sharp ran similar pilot programs. Gateway computers will give you a rebate on a new com- puter if you return any brand of old computer. Some companies are charging a recycling fee when the item is bought. The consumer can then return the item for free when he or she no longer wants it. The 1Vlinnesota Office of Environmental Assistance is acting on behalf of the State in pushing product stewardship programs. In particular it is working for manufacturers and retailers to charge a recycling fee at the time of purchase. That way a consumer can return the item for free when they no longer want it. The MOEA is also working with manufacturers to increase the amount of recycled material in new electronic items. Recycling and Disposal Once an item is accepted at an electronics recycling facilities the company evaluates the item. First worlcers determine if the item can be repaired or refurbished and either they do it or it is sold to a company that can. If the item cannot be salvaged it is broken down into i�s components most of which are sold to companies that recycle the components and some of which are disposed of following state and federal guidelines. Not all electronics recycling facilities do this though. Some ship the items overseas to be broken down. A February 2002 report from the environmental group Basel Action Network docu- mented cases in China and India where the electronics disman- tling was causing pollution problems and workers had li�tle or no protection against potentially harinfiil chemicals (see photo at left). Ramsey County recommends consumers use Asset Recov- ery Corporation in St. Paul far disposal because it was the only 31