WASHINGTON -- Up to 42,000 direct and indirect new jobs could be created if more electronic waste were processed by U.S. recyclers instead of being landfilled or sent overseas, a study commissioned by the Coalition for American Electronics Recycling found.

Using numbers from the U.S. EPA, the study estimates that 3.6 billion pounds per year of e-waste are landfilled, processed by CAER nonmembers or exported, representing 21,000 full-time recycling jobs and 21,000 indirect jobs. Restricting the export of that waste – and keeping it out of landfills – could create tens of thousands of new jobs.

The Coalition for American Electronics Recycling includes 82 U.S. companies operating about 158 electronics processing facilities.