The California State Assembly passed Assembly Bill 2901 that requires retailers of cellular phones to recycle the old telephones at no cost.
The bill, sponsored by Assembly Member Fran Pavley, also would require public education to promote cell phone recycling policies. It passed the State Assembly by a vote of 41-32.
“Almost 40,000 cell phones are thrown away every day in California – either into a drawer somewhere or worse, into the trash,” said Pavley. “Their circuit boards contain myriad toxins such as arsenic, beryllium and lead, many of which are Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxin, and have the potential to be released into the air and groundwater when burned in incinerators or disposed of in landfills. That’s a serious threat to human health and our environment and we need to provide a real alternative.”
After passing the California General Assembly the bill has been submitted to the California State Senate where it was read last week.
California State Assembly also is in debate over a bill to address the recycling of fluorescent lights. The bill, SB 1180, sponsored by Senator Liz Figueroa, would require manufacturers and distributors of fluorescent lamps sold in California to pay a recycling fee for purposes of a recycling incentive grant program, collection and processing assistance, grants to local government and a public information program.
In its present form the bill calls for the following steps: authorize the State Department of Toxic Substances Control to regulate hazardous wastes, including the disposal of products containing mercury; require the state Water Resources Control Board to regulate mercury-containing wastes in accordance with waste discharge permits and prohibitions issued by a regional water quality control board; ban the manufacture and sale of dry cell batteries containing more than incidental amounts of mercury, the sale of toys with coatings containing more than 0.1 percent soluble mercury, mercury fever thermometers, and novelty items containing mercury; require art and craft materials containing toxic substances, including mercury, to be prescriptively labeled; prohibit the purchase of mercury-containing materials in K-12 schools, with certain exceptions; require the removal of specified mercury-containing switches in junked vehicles prior to being crushed or shredded; and impose a fee on retailers of specified electronic products containing hazardous materials, including mercury, and provide a program to collect and recycle such products in accordance with the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003.
This bill is presently in the California State Assembly.