Since California introduced legislation mandating the recycling of certain electronic devices in 2003, a number of states have contributed to the patchwork of laws governing the disposal of these devices. Unlike California, however, which adopted and advance recovery fee to fund its program, these other states have opted for producer-funded programs.
A session at the 2008 National Recycling Coalition (NRC) Congress & Expo, held Sept. 21-24 in Pittsburgh, addressed the rapid developments occurring in state electronics recycling programs.
According to Jason Linnell, executive director of the National Center for Electronics Recycling (NCER), Davisville, W.V., 19 states have passed laws governing the recycling of electronic devices with mandatory financing programs, affecting nearly half of the U.S. population. While most of the states employ producer-responsibility models for financing their programs, the approaches vary widely. However, the NCER had identified four primary producer-responsibility models, Linnell said. In the first model, used in Maine and Connecticut, the producer’s return share determines its financial obligation under the program. Washington, Oregon and Rhode Island use Model Two, which is producer managed and includes default and convenience goals. Manufacturers can either participate in the states’ contractors programs or establish their own programs. Model Three, which New York City, Minnesota and Hawaii employ, is producer managed but lacks default of geographic goals, Linnell said. Collection goals and convenience requirements vary by state, as well. Model Four requires producers to develop their own programs, which can include mail-in programs and drop-off sites. Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri use variations of this model. Texas, Missouri, Virginia and Oklahoma have not identified goals for the manufacturers to meet; they simply must have some type of recycling program, Linnell said.
Linnell also provided his insights into the Oregon program, which NCER was recently tapped to manage. The Oregon program accepts covered electronic devices from households, small businesses, nonprofits with 10 employees or fewer and anyone turning in seven or fewer covered devices at once.
The NCER received a three-and-a-half-year contract with a single three-year renewal option from the state, Linnell said. The NCER was in the process designing and implementing a plan that would provide free collections in cities of 10,000 or more, he said. The system, which will be fully operational by Jan. 1, 2009, will accept covered electronic devices, including desktop computers, portable computers, monitors and televisions. Linnell said site visits had been key in determining viable collection locations in the state and that the true cost of collections from site to site had yet to be determined.
Also speaking during the session was Scott Mouw of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Raleigh, N.C. Mouw provided an overview of the North Carolina electronics recycling program. He said the state’s DNR supported a recycling program funded by an advance recovery fee that took advantage of the existing infrastructure. However, retailers in the state opposed this funding mechanism, especially for televisions, and manufacturers pushed for a bill with limited standards and government oversight.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2010, manufacturers must register with the state. They are obligated to cover the costs of transporting and processing material gathered by collectors throughout the state, including televisions, desktop central processing units, laptop computers, monitor or video display units for computers, keyboards and mice.
Mouw said the North Carolina program set up a competitive atmosphere for manufacturers. He said he hoped that as a result the manufacturers would take advantage of the pre-existing collection infrastructure and work with cities and counties in an effort to increase their share of recovered electronics.
The 2008 NRC Recycling Congress was Sept. 22-24 in Pittsburgh at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The 2009 event will be Oct. 4-7 in Portland, Ore.