California State Senator Byron Sher was able to win initial State Senate approval for a bill with much stronger language to involve electronics producers in the solution to the mounting crisis of electronic waste. “Unfortunately, the legislative process was short-circuited by the scheduling of the recall election, and IBM and TV manufacturers such as Panasonic and Sony, took advantage of the political chaos in Sacramento,” said Ted Smith of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. “These companies advanced their narrow self-interests at the expense of the taxpayers, consumers, local government, the public health and the environment,” Smith continued.

The Computer TakeBack Campaign (www.computertakeback.com) is a broad-based coalition of local, state and national organizations promoting producer responsibility as the solution to America’s growing electronic waste crisis.

The Computer TakeBack Campaign does not view the legislation as a model bill to be replicated in other states or at the federal level. State legislatures can and must do better to protect taxpayers, local government and the environment from the electronic waste crisis we face. The CTBC believes that Gov. Davis had it right last year in his veto message of similar legislation when he said:

“The European Union is working on a program to assure that manufacturers maintain responsibility for the safe recycling of the products they produce. I am encouraged by the product stewardship approach and believe this model, tailored to fit California's recycling and disposal infrastructure is worth pursuing. California needs a comprehensive and innovative state law that partners with product manufacturers, establishes recycling targets, and provides for the safe recycling and disposal of electronic waste. Setting environmental standards and providing manufacturers flexibility to meet them is the cornerstone of California's air quality laws and has generated a new generation of car emission reduction technologies and improved air quality for the public. I am convinced we can do the same for electronic waste.”

Senate Bill 20, passed in California on September 12, establishes a recycling fee of between $6 and $10 on the sales of new televisions and computer monitors that contain cathode ray tubes (CRTs) to help fund the recycling or management of discarded television and computer cathode ray tubes and hazardous displays. Although environmental and recycling advocates were able to include a provision that allows the California Integrated Waste Management Board to increase those fees, should they not cover the cost, it is likely that taxpayers will be left to pay the bill for the mess created by the electronics industry.

Despite efforts to enact a bill that would appropriately place responsibility on manufacturers to take back e-waste and safely recycle or reuse it domestically, California has instead created a recycling system that will create an insufficiently funded program run by the government. “The bill also fails to ban the continued export of e-waste to developing countries that do not have the infrastructure to protect people from exposure to hazardous substances in e-waste,” said Robin Schneider of Texas Campaign for the Environment. “Instead, the bill sets up a series of restrictions that do not go far enough to solve the problem,” Schneider continued.

“While we support the effort to end disposal of e-waste, we have serious concerns about how SB 20 changed in the eleventh hour from a bill that would require manufacturers to take back their product waste to a government managed program that is insufficient to safely manage hazardous electronics waste,” concluded David Wood, Executive Director of the GrassRoots Recycling Network.

One strong provision remaining in Senate Bill 20 is the phase out of the use of some hazardous chemicals in products over time, tracking new European directives.

“What is perhaps most galling of all, the very same companies that had a hand in gutting the producer takeback provision of the legislation – IBM, Panasonic, and Sony in particular – have supported legislative efforts that establish manufacturer responsibility requirements for electronic product waste in Europe and Asia. IBM and Sony are blatantly advocating double standards in the USA,” said Alexandra McPherson of Clean Production Action. She cited a joint press release signed by Sony, Hewlett Packard, Apple and others in response to European legislation mandating manufacturer responsibility, the following statement of support was made:

“Parliament has proposed that each producer would be required to provide appropriate guarantees for the management of WEEE [waste from electrical and electronic products]. This establishes the necessary legal instrument for proper enforcement and addresses the issue of free riders. This is essential to avoid placing unjustified burdens on tax-payers and consumer.”

Computer TakeBack Campaign organizers renewed their commitment to enacting state-level legislation requiring full producer responsibility for discarded computers and consumer electronics. “California was being watched around the country for what policy would be adopted there,” continued GRRN’s Wood. “SB20 offers a building block for next year in California, and the course of its passage in California has taught us much about how to win EPR in other states going forward from here.”

Background:

The goal of the Computer Take-Back Campaign (www.computertakeback.com) is to protect the health and well being of electronics users, workers, and the communities where electronics are produced and discarded by requiring consumer electronics manufacturers and brand owners to take full responsibility for the life cycle of their products, through effective public policy requirements or enforceable agreements.

Contact:

David Wood, 608-255-4800
Robin Schneider, 512-326-5655
Leslie Byster, 503-239-6012