National E-Waste Recycling Scheme Launches in Pakistan

National E-Waste Recycling Scheme Opens with Producer Responsibility Rules

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today officially activated the National E-Waste Recycling Scheme (NERS), a federal program that makes electronics manufacturers—not taxpayers or municipalities—financially and operationally responsible for collecting and recycling the devices they sell. The rules, authorized under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act amendments signed last year, take effect January 1, 2026, and apply to all brands that place televisions, laptops, tablets, phones, printers, and small appliances on the U.S. market.

Under the scheme, producers must join an EPA-approved Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) by March 31, 2026, or face civil penalties of up to $25,000 per day of non-compliance. Each PRO will submit a five-year stewardship plan detailing how it will achieve the statutory 65 % collection rate for covered products by 2029 and an 80 % rate by 2032. PROs must also establish at least one free drop-off site per 10,000 residents in metropolitan areas and conduct bi-annual mail-back campaigns for rural counties. “The goal is to leap from today’s estimated 25 % national e-waste recovery rate to world-class levels within seven years,” said EPA Administrator Maria Jones at a Capitol Hill briefing.

The market opportunity is enormous. According to Technavio’s 2025 outlook, the U.S. electronic-waste recycling market is projected to grow by USD 32.74 billion between 2025 and 2029, accelerating at a compound annual rate of 21.6 % as brand-funded systems scale up.

Copper, gold, palladium, and rare-earth magnets recovered under NERS are expected to feed domestic battery and semiconductor supply chains, reducing reliance on geopolitically sensitive imports.

“Producer responsibility is no longer a niche policy—it is an industrial strategy,” said Linda Carter, Chief Executive of Circular Electronics Alliance (CEA), the first PRO to receive provisional EPA accreditation. “Our members—which include three of the five largest global OEMs—project that compliant take-back will create 18,000 skilled jobs in logistics, refurbishment, and advanced materials recovery by 2028. We are already contracting with 127 certified recyclers across 40 states to ensure every collected device is processed to R2 or e-Stewards standards.”

The regulation also imposes strict reporting thresholds. Producers must document the serial number, weight, and final disposition of each item collected, uploading anonymized data quarterly to the EPA’s new National E-Waste Data Exchange. Brands that achieve 10 % above the annual collection target earn tradeable recycling credits; those that fall short must buy credits or pay an compliance fee of USD 0.45 per unmet pound. Early estimates suggest the market for credits could reach USD 480 million in the first full year, generating a self-reinforcing incentive for design-for-disassembly and longer product lifespans.

Environmental groups praised the shift. “Americans discard roughly 6.9 million tons of electronics annually—more than the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza,” said Jeremy Holt, director of the Safe E-Waste Campaign. “By shifting the cost burden to brands, NERS internalizes the environmental externality and rewards companies that reduce hazardous substances and modularize components.”

About Circular Electronics Alliance

CEA is a nonprofit producer responsibility organization formed in 2024 by leading electronics manufacturers, retailers, and asset-management firms. The organization operates the nation’s largest network of certified e-waste recyclers and provides compliance, logistics, and data services to more than 220 member companies.