A bill to address the recycling of cellular phones was introduced into the California House of Assembly on Feb. 20.
The bill, AB 2901, was introduced by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley and coauthored Assembly Member Christine Kehoe. The bill would require retailers of mobile phones to develop recycling programs for their products. According to the bill, phone manufacturers would have to report to the California Integrated Waste Management Board on the hazardous materials contained in the phones, as well as any plan on how to dispose of them.
The bill noted that existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations to prohibit an electronic device, as defined, from being sold or offered for sale in this state if the electronic device is prohibited from being sold or offered for sale in the European Union on and after its date of manufacture, due to the presence of certain heavy metals.
The bill would require a retailer selling a cell phone in California to have in place, by July 1, 2005, a system approved by the California Integrated Waste Management Board for the acceptance, collection, reuse, and recycling or proper disposal of used cell phones.
The bill would authorize the board to approve a system for the acceptance, collection, reuse, and recycling or proper disposal of a used cell phone only if the system includes specified elements and the board finds that the system is at least as convenient to a consumer as the system and procedure for the sale and distribution of a new cell phone. The bill would specify procedures for the approval of those plans by the board.
The bill would require each retailer of a cell phone who sells a cell phone in this state, by July 1, 2006, and annually thereafter, to submit a report to the board on the number of cell phones sold by the retailer in this state during the previous calendar year and other information.
A retailer would also be required to make information available to consumers that describes where and how to return, recycle, and dispose of the cell phone and opportunities and locations for the collection or return of the cell phone, through
specified means.