space Press Releases, News Stories

By Eryn Gable, Greenwire staff writer

20 August 2002 -- With the California Assembly expected to take up two bills targeting electronic waste in the next two weeks, the calls for a national standard are growing stronger.

A recent study by the U.S. EPA shows old computers, video game consoles, cell phones, televisions and fax machines make up approximately 1 percent of the municipal solid waste stream. European research indicates that electronic waste is growing at three times the rate of other municipal waste. Today's useful life of a computer is only three to five years and shrinking, according to EPA. By 2003, the National Safety Council estimates that as many as 63 million personal computers will be retired.

"Once states like California, Massachusetts and North Carolina -- some of the large states known for their progressive environmental policies -- change their rules, I think it will send a wake-up call to industry that they need to resolve some of their own differences and come to the table to develop a national program," said Ted Smith, director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.

Twenty states have attempted e-waste legislation this year, but so far nothing has passed. As the birthplace of computers, California could be an important harbinger for the rest of the country: Many experts say that if California becomes the first state to impose a fee on computer and television sales to finance safe trash collection and recycling, other states could follow. Last week, a San Jose councilwoman and a San Francisco supervisor said they would propose local initiatives to regulate the growing pile of electronic trash if the Assembly fails to act.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) has proposed similar legislation in Congress. His bill would require EPA to establish a grant program to provide money to organizations, states or municipalities that recycle computers. A $10 fee on retail purchases of PCs and monitors would finance the program.

Over 6 million televisions and computers are stockpiled in California homes, according to the California Integrated Waste Management Board. And in 2003, an estimated 3.73 million computer monitors -- about 10,000 each day -- will become obsolete in the state, Californians Against Waste reports.

California, like Massachusetts, has prohibited state landfills from accepting any more TVs or computer monitors, which commonly contain toxic materials such as lead. And the pending legislation, which has already passed the state Senate, would add as much as $30 to the cost of a new computer or TV by 2004 to help cities and trash companies pay for the expensive collection process. The proposal also calls on electronics makers to put a warning label on each new computer and TV that contains hazardous material ( Greenwire, June 26).

Although environmentalists are hopeful the bills will pass, the prospects are less than certain. "I don't have a prediction, but we wouldn't take it up for a vote if we didn't think it had a chance to pass," said Mark Murray, executive director of CAW. Last month, the state legislature passed a bill to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, a measure Murray described as consistent with the e-waste legislation.

Much of America's waste currently makes its way to Asian landfills, where very few products are actually recycled. Instead, a recent report found workers stripped the valuable components from the machines, leaving the remaining equipment piled up along waterways. They also dumped used mixtures of hydrochloric nitric acids into rivers ( Greenwire, Feb. 26).

Environmentalists are concerned the California proposal, which offers loose restrictions on exports, could ultimately become ineffective if tighter guidelines aren't put in place. "If the loophole on exports is allowed, it will make a mockery of any initiatives," said Jim Puckett, coordinator for the Basel Action Network. "California could be just working really hard to divert these products from their landfills and then if they get dumped into a rice paddy in China, it will be completely counterproductive."

But Margaret Bruce, environmental programs director for the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, disputed the notion that companies are "poisoning peasants in China for fun and profit." She said much of the material sent to poorer developing countries is unwanted by domestic recyclers and scrappers.

Bruce said the time simply isn't ripe for the California legislation, partly because a federal solution would be more equitable to manufacturers and because the state is also looking at action on other hazardous waste. She said she fears passage of the legislation could prompt state-by-state regulations or piece-by-piece initiatives in California.

Industry initiatives

Partly to steal the California proposal's thunder, three electronics giants launched a temporary recycling program last week in participating cities such as Los Angeles and San Diego. The Electronics Recycling Shared Responsibility Program will bear the costs of recycling Panasonic, Sharp and Sony products ( Greenwire, Aug. 12). Those companies have also agreed to phase out some harmful materials from their products by next year.

Prompted partly by threats of state action, manufacturers have become more active recently in promoting and designing more-benign products. Earlier this month, NEC launched the first environment-friendly personal computer, the PowerMate eco ( Greenwire, Aug. 15). Dana Joel Gattuso, an adjunct scholar with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said manufacturers will likely become more active in designing products that are easier to recycle and organizing recycling programs.

"There's an emerging trend on the part of manufacturers to make computers more environmentally and eco-efficient," Gattuso said. "Already, a number of manufacturers are phasing out glues and adhesives and using snap-to-fit parts. They're not using nuts and bolts, labeling plastics so they can be taken apart much more easily and establishing their own take-back programs."

Europe and Japan already have laws requiring manufacturers to recycle their products at the end of their lives. And the European Union is working on two waste initiatives: one that would remove as many "obsolete" computers as possible from the waste stream and make producers pay for their disposal, and another that would tighten hazardous waste rules on lead, mercury, cadmium and chemicals used in flame retardants. The rules could have a major effect on U.S. manufacturers, who export as much as $6 billion in consumer electronics.

"It's unlikely manufacturers would produce two separate items -- one for the European Union and another for the United States," said Jennifer Guhl, director of international trade policy at the American Electronics Association, which supported the E.U. directive. Guhl added that the limits on landfill space made the e-waste issue a particularly pressing problem for Europe.