SACRAMENTO – Concerned that the state’s electronic waste recycling program is underused, state lawmakers have proposed several bills to expand the effort, including imposing a new $6 fee on the sale of personal computers to help pay for recycling.
The state established an e-waste recycling program in 2003 but left off personal computers from the list of products that carry a $6 to $10 fee to pay for their eventual disposal.
Assembly Bill 1535 by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, would add PCs to the list of products that carry the fee. The funds are used as incentives for local governments, non-profits and private recyclers to collect electronic waste, which is considered hazardous and unfit for disposal in ordinary landfills.
“We have learned since the passage of California’s e-waste law that in addition to monitors, the computer CPU itself is toxic,” Huffman said. “It is currently illegal to dump them, yet thousands and thousands of them are going to the landfill each year.”
The Assembly Committee on Natural Resources approved the bill Monday along party lines, but it must go through additional hearings before reaching a full floor vote.
Opponents, including Hewlett-Packard, the California Chamber of Commerce and the American Electronics Association, said the additional fee was unnecessary because the private sector and recyclers are already working together successfully to encourage recycling.
HP’s recycling program director, Larry King, said 191 sites around the state accept PCs from the public for free, without the additional financial incentives to be created by the new fee.
“Is there a problem for the citizens of California which is not being addressed by the marketplace?” King said. “And is that problem to such a degree that the citizens need an additional tax placed on them? We would argue the marketplace is addressing the needs of the citizens.”
Other bills to expand electronic recycling include AB48, by Assemblywoman Lori Saldana, D-San Diego, which would expand the scope of products banned for sale in California. The bill would tie the ban to standards set by the European Union, which prohibits the sale of electronic products containing certain chemicals and toxics such as lead and mercury. Many companies have amended their manufacturing process in response to the ban, according to the bill analysis.
AB546 by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Woodland Hills, would require local solid waste facilities to accept electronic waste from the public. It would also require a state agency to compile a list of electronic waste collection centers and provide it to retailers, who would in turn provide it to consumers when they purchase electronics.
Contact Harrison Sheppard at harrison.sheppard
@dailynews.com or (916)446-6723.
