Tower of Babel: 30 States Are Grappling With E-Waste Bills

Date: August 9, 2006

Source: Waste Business Journal

So far this year about 30 states are working on some form of e-waste legislation. The problem is that everyone disagrees on both the approach and scope. Lacking a federal law brings the battleground to individual states. Already states have often divergent programs with more expected this year. Many state politicians would like federal intervention, but are eager to address the problem now rather than wait. Most approaches fall into two groups on which the states are divided equally: an advanced recovery fee (ARF) or a "producer responsibility" approach. Critics of the ARF model equate it to a form of taxation. Conversely, critics of the producer responsibility model point out that it is virtually impossible for manufacturers to keep track of sales into different states with varying legal requirements. Still a third approach termed "individual responsibility" is currently being espoused by Dell and others.

For more information and statistics contact the editors of Waste Business Journal at info@wastebusinessjournal.com or by calling (619) 793-5190.

Other sites of interest:
The Consumer Electronics Association: www.ce.org/GovernmentAffairs.
The Product Stewardship Institute (PSI): www.productstewardship.us.
The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC): www.nerc.org.

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