    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 124, 111th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    PROCLAMATION 8601--NOV. 15, 2010

    Proclamation 8601 of November 15, 2010
    America Recycles Day, 2010
    By the President of the United States of America
    A Proclamation

    Each small act of conservation, when combined with other innumerable
    deeds across the country, can have an enormous impact on the health of
    our environment. On America Recycles Day, we celebrate the individuals,
    communities, local governments, and businesses that work together to
    recycle waste and develop innovative ways to manage our resources more
    sustainably.
    Americans already take many steps to protect our planet, participating
    in curbside recycling and community composting programs, and expanding
    their use of recyclable and recycled materials. Recycling not only
    preserves our environment by conserving precious resources and reducing
    our carbon footprint, but it also contributes to job creation and
    economic development. This billion-dollar industry employs thousands of
    workers nationwide, and evolving our recycling practices can help create
    green jobs, support a vibrant American recycling and refurbishing
    industry, and advance our clean energy economy.
    While we can celebrate the breadth of our successes on America Recycles
    Day, we must also recommit to building upon this progress and to drawing
    attention to further developments, including the recycling of electronic
    products. The increased use of electronics and technology in our homes
    and society brings the challenge of protecting human health and the
    environment from potentially harmful effects of the improper handling
    and disposal of these products. Currently, most discarded consumer
    electronics end up in our landfills or are exported abroad, creating
    potential health and environmental hazards and representing a lost
    opportunity to recover valuable resources such as rare earth minerals.
    To address the problems caused by electronic waste, American businesses,
    government, and individuals must work together to manage these
    electronics throughout the product lifecycle--from design and
    manufacturing through their use and eventual recycling, recovery, and
    disposal. To ensure the Federal Government leads as a responsible con-

    [[Page 4750]]

    sumer, my Administration has established an interagency task force to
    prepare a national strategy for responsible electronics stewardship,
    including improvements to Federal procedures for managing electronic
    products. This strategy must also include steps to ensure electronics
    containing hazardous materials collected for recycling and disposal are
    not exported to developing nations that lack the capacity to manage the
    recovery and disposal of these products in ways that safeguard human
    health and the environment.
    On America Recycles Day, let us respond to our collective responsibility
    as a people and a Nation to be better stewards of our global
    environment, and to pass down a planet to future generations that is
    better than we found it.
    NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
    America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
    the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 15, 2010, as
    America Recycles Day. I call upon the people of the United States to
    observe this day with appropriate programs and activities, and I
    encourage all Americans to continue their recycling efforts throughout
    the year.
    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of
    November, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the
    Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
    fifth.
    BARACK OBAMA