For immediate release                                                Contact: Joe Larkin April 5, 2001                                                               630-775-2303                                                                       Conference to Focus on Responsible Management of Electronics Products   Itasca, Ill. -- The National Safety Council and the International Association of Electronic Recyclers will present a joint electronics recycling conference and summit to promote responsible management of electronics products. The Electronic Products Recovery and Recycling (EPR2) Conference and the Electronic Recycling Summit will be held April 17-19, 2001 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. The Fourth EPR2 Conference brings together people committed to promoting environmentally and economically responsible management of electronics products throughout their life cycle.  Leaders from federal, state and local government, academia, not-for-profit organizations, and electronics manufacturing and recycling companies will present and exchange the latest information on trends, laws, design, technology, and collection and recycling initiatives.          Featured speakers include Alan McMillan, president of the National Safety Council; Mike Shapiro, deputy assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Pete Muscanelli, president of the International Association of Electronics Recyclers; and Diana Bendz, IBM’s corporate director of environmentally conscious products. “With session topics that include legislation and regulations, collection initiatives, recycling initiatives, recycling technologies, design for environment, environmentally preferable purchasing, and government networking opportunities, this conference will cover the entire range of thinking on the recovery and recycling of electronics products,” said Bud Ward, executive director of the National Safety Council’s Environmental Health Center (EHC).  EHC has spearheaded the drive toward greater awareness of the environmental problems associated with electronics products.   Conference on Electronics Products -2   The keynote speaker for EPR2 is Dave McCurdy, president of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), who will discuss EIA’s consumer education initiative and other voluntary end-of-life initiatives. The Electronics Recycling Summit, continuing a dialog begun at the first summit in May 2000, will be an avenue for stakeholders to build partnerships and a common action plan to increase electronics recovery and recycling.  IBM’s Diana Bendz will present an overview of the summit. After a report on the actions following Summit 2000, a panel will explore key issues for discussion and potential collaboration. Constituency groups and plenary working sessions will address the needs, challenges and actions on focus issues, followed by workshops and a tour of DMC Recycling Company in Hagerstown, Maryland. Joining the National Safety Council and the International Association of Electronic Recyclers as sponsors of the event are the United States Environmental Protection Agency, IBM and  Micromet. For additional information about the event, contact Candace Levitt at (202) 293-2270 x 476 or levitt@nsc.org.             The National Safety Council is a nonprofit, nongovernmental, international public-service organization dedicated to reducing unintentional injuries in homes and communities, in the workplace and on the highway.  For more information about the NSC, visit the Council’s web site at www.nsc.org.           The International Association of Electronics Recyclers is the first and only trade association representing and serving the electronics recycling industry. For more information about the IAER, visit the web site at: http://www.iaer.org/
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