EIA Calls for Federal E-Scrap Laws

With a flurry of states passing electronics recycling laws, the Electronic Industries Alliance is calling for a national law that could address the issue.

Following the expected signing of state laws in Texas and Connecticut, electronics manufacturers will then possibly have eight unique sets of requirements, twice as many as last year. Additionally, other states are considering passing some type of state electronics recycling law.

"This is an issue crying out for a national solution," said Matt Flanigan, EIA interim president and CEO. "These laws vary dramatically from state to state, picking winners and losers among electronics manufacturers and retailers. If fifty legislatures rewrite business models state by state, consumers could see higher costs and fewer choices – all without any commensurate environmental benefit.

Recently EIA released a consensus framework that paves the way for federal legislation to establish a national recycling program for television sets, as well as computers and computer peripherals. The proposal represents the first consensus agreement among IT and TV manufacturers on meeting the nation's electronics recycling challenge.

The framework calls for a bifurcated financing approach, separating TVs from computer equipment to reflect their divergent business models, market composition and consumer base. TV collection and recycling would be primarily conducted by an industry-sponsored third party organization and initially supported by a nominal fee paid by consumers at the point of purchase.

The fee would eventually expire, once a significant number of so-called "legacy" sets are recovered. Makers of IT equipment would be required to implement a program to collect and recycle its products in a manner that is convenient for household consumers and at no cost to them. All programs, whether for televisions or IT equipment, will have to ensure that they rely solely on service providers that satisfy established environmentally sound management standards and related business practices.

To view the EIA’s proposed recycling framework click on the following link -- EIA Proposal