E-waste laws aim at producers

E-waste is a mounting problem that states are trying to address.

The amount of electronic waste or "e-waste" in the United States is growing at an alarming rate, and states such as Oregon and Washington want electronics manufacturers to shoulder the cost of implementing responsible "e-waste" recycling programs.

The United States generated 2.6 million tons of "e-waste" in 2005, according to the Electronic Takeback Coalition. Only 12.5 percent of the trashed electronics were recycled. With the coming transition to digital television, the coalition says it expects millions of televisions will be tossed thanks to the mandated transition to digital television in February 2009.

Residents of Oregon and Washington and 16 other states who chose to buy a new digital television, a new monitor or any of a number of other Covered Electronic Devices (CED) will be able to take advantage of no-cost "e-waste" recycling programs starting Jan. 1, 2009. In both states, manufactures of CEDs will be responsible for paying for the costs of recycling programs.

Producers of CEDs who wish to sell their products in Oregon have the choice to help pay for the state to manage a recycling program, to run their own, or to form a joint program with other producers.

Manufacturers that do not want to set up their own program or join one such as MRM’s, but still plan to sell products in Oregon automatically become a part of the state contractor program. According to Kathy Kiwala, the e-Waste project lead for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, about 26 percent of the e-waste expected to be recycled in Oregon in 2009 will be managed by a contractor for the state at a cost of less than $1 million. The amount each producer in that program will pay will be based on the percentage of their products by weight that go through the program. Manufacturers of televisions will pay based on their market share.

David Thompson, president of Manufacturers Recycling Management (MRM) a company created by Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba says the companies want to manage their own program "The best way to fulfill our own sustainability goals is to be directly involved in the management and the collection of recyclable products," Thompson says. A statement released by the company in January also cited economies of scale as a reason for taking on the task of managing e-waste recycling in numerous states with different requirements and fee structures.

In Washington, manufacturers don’t currently have an option. A quasi-governmental agency called the Washington Materials Management and Financing Authority is slated to handle "e-waste" recycling and plans to charge a fee to producers that sell products in the state. California has a similar law on the books, though that state requires consumers to cover the cost of the program through a fee at the time of purchase.