They are in our homes, our schools, our places of work, even our pockets -- devices that contain a slumbering toxic menace.

They have high concentrations of materials that are pollutants and carcinogens, and they're even visiting environmental catastrophes upon some parts of the world.

In short, they're the electrical goodies we think we can't live without -- our beloved televisions, coveted iPods, cherished DVD players, prized computers and more -- and as they're replaced with higher-end models, they're making their way to our garbage dumps.

The problem is, this waste -- electronic waste -- requires special and sometimes expensive handling to ensure that devices made to enrich our quality of life don't end up degrading the quality of the world in which we live.

"Take a CRT, for example," said Recycling Coalition of Utah's Brad Mertz, referring to the cathode ray tube that provides the picture on television screens and computer monitors.

"It has 4 to 8 pounds of lead in it. It's got chromium. It's got arsenic. It's got heavy metals that in and of themselves are nasty. It can contaminate groundwater.

"Sitting on your desk, it's fine. Once it's broken, that's a different matter."

As the amount of e-waste increases, some states have taken steps to ensure that old electronics are recycled or disposed of properly, and there's an effort under way to stop the export of e-waste to places where environmental controls are nonexistent.

Utah lawmakers are expected to spend time studying the issue this summer.

"There are several models out there," said state Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City, who proposed an electronic waste task force during this year's legislative session. "It's just a matter of finding which one fits best with our state."

Lawmakers decided not to spend limited task force funds on this subject, but McCoy said he was promised that the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee would spend time on the issue.

By the truckload

Reports compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency estimate that 1 percent to 4 percent of municipal waste consists of old electronics.

Utahns throw out about 280 million pounds of municipal garbage a year, Mertz said. That means as much as 11.2 million pounds of electronic waste -- enough to fill 560 garbage trucks -- is being tossed out annually.

"That's just households," Mertz added. "When you factor in commercial, that's a lot more tonnage."

Not all of that ends up in landfills, however.

Intermountain Health Care, Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College, for example, all have surplus programs that offer electronics no longer needed by the institutions to employees, nonprofit groups and the public.

BYU and UVSC work with recyclers on items that aren't usable anymore. IHC throws away such items, hospital spokeswoman Janet Frank said, unless they contain substances like refrigerants that must be handled a certain way.

The South Utah County Solid Waste District accepts televisions, computers and mobile phones for recycling for a small fee, and works with a recycling company in Ogden to handle the waste.

Not everyone in waste management thinks that electronics are a disposal danger -- the Solid Waste Association of North America, for example, has said that modern landfills are sealed well enough to prevent toxic leaching.

The trade association also opposed some North Carolina electronics recycling legislation in 2003, in part because of what they called a lack of support for the claim that lead and other metals could leach into groundwater.

"We would assume that the cumulative totals of lead over time would have been detectable in statistically significant amounts by facility groundwater monitoring procedures by now," says a position statement from the organization. "While there may be some future potential for lead to impact groundwater, we are not able to verify an existing problem when these devices are properly disposed."

SWANA still supports electronics recycling because it reduces waste.

Richard Henry, manager of the south Utah County waste district, said that's the district's policy too.

"We're trying to recycle as much as possible -- just in case there is a problem, and just so there's more space," he said.

It's processed 17 tons of e-waste in the last year and had another 4.5 tons waiting for pickup recently, Henry said.

"If the word got out and everybody started bringing, it would be a lot more than that, especially if we started getting stuff from companies," he said.

That's why it's important to work on electronic recycling options now, Mertz and McCoy said, before existing recycling resources are overwhelmed.

"As of right now, we don't quite have the infrastructure. But it is coming," Mertz said.

Other states have taken different approaches to help that infrastructure arrive.

In Washington, for example, electronics manufacturers have to set up a takeback program or pay into a state takeback program. In that scenario, McCoy said, the responsibility is on the manufacturer to provide for recycling, which could also encourage products that are designed to be more easily recyclable.

Other states collect a fee from consumers when the electronics are purchased, which goes into a fund to cover the costs of recycling that item at the end of its life. Utah already has a version of this in place for used tires and waste motor oil, McCoy noted.

If all goes well, he added, a proposal could be ready for the 2007 legislative session.

Many electronics manufacturers -- including Apple, Dell, IBM, Xerox, Canon USA, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard and Nokia -- already provide some type of recycling or takeback program. Customers usually must pay a fee or shipping costs. Contact your manufacturer or electronics retailer for more information.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.