[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 223 (Friday, November 19, 2010)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 71003-71004]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-29455]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 75 , No. 223 / Friday, November 19, 2010 / 
Presidential Documents

[[Page 71003]]


                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 consumer, 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

[[Page 71004]]

                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. 
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2010-29455
Filed 11-18-10; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3195-W1-P