Not-so-green California?

California could face problems in properly disposing of its used televisions and computer monitors because of laws that prevent the processing of lead-filled glass in the state.

Many components of e-waste can be separated and sold as commodities, but California's environmental laws bar the processing of lead-filled glass. The laws have prompted some recyclers that manage California's electronic waste, or e-waste, to ship glass to a major processing facility in neighboring Yuma, Ariz.

However, a report from San Francisco's CBS 5 News prompted an investigation of the facility by Arizona's Department of Environmental Quality. The investigation found that thousands of pounds of the glass were being improperly handled, resulting in soil samples containing toxins barium and lead. 

The findings from the Department of Environmental Quality have left California recyclers scrambling to find a new company to process the toxic glass in a neighboring state, CBS reports. At least one recycler referred to the situation as a "crisis."

The roblem isn't California's alone. India's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research released a study in February that said e-waste is growing at a rate of 10 percent a
year in India, with 95 percent headed to urban slums for segregating, dismantling and recycling in potentially hazardous conditions (see E-waste growing 10% a year in India).

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