Recycling in the electronics industry

At a Rockwell division, the company was doing everything well except recycling but a new program has significantly reduced disposal.

IN 1993, the Coralville, Iowa, plant of Rockwell Avionics & Communications disposed of more than 1,800 cubic yards of refuse. Pockets of recycling existed in the high tech electronics plant - for example, white paper was collected at specific locations - but these were not heavily promoted.

Since then, production has nearly doubled, but refuse bound for the landfill dropped to 220 cubic yards/year in 1996, an 88 percent reduction. Rockwell implemented a creative, multifaceted program that was duplicated in 1995 at the company's Cedar …