Bid to Recycle TVs and E-Waste Gains

A campaign to make California the first state to require recycling of old computer monitors and televisions is beginning to win the tentative backing of the nation’s biggest electronics manufacturers, raising the likelihood that it will result in a new state law this year.

Gov. Gray Davis vetoed similar legislation last year amid widespread opposition from computer makers and television manufacturers who said the industry was already developing programs to collect and clean up the mountains of unwanted electronic equipment piling up all over the globe.

But many of those same companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Panasonic and IBM, now say they are willing to support a state law, conceding that the industry effort to establish a national standard is years away and that government may need to play a leading role.

Meanwhile, the California Environmental Protection Agency recently released a sweeping proposal of its own to tackle the “e-waste” problem, leading environmentalists and industry representatives alike to conclude that the Davis administration is serious about supporting legislation this time around. The state’s approach could serve as a model for the entire country.

“There seems to be a growing sense among the people in industry that something is going to happen on this issue, and they want it to be something they can live with,” said Cal/EPA Secretary Winston H. Hickox.

With many consumers replacing televisions, computers and telephones every couple of years to keep up with the latest technologies, electronic detritus has become a common byproduct of the information age. More than 4.3 million tons of consumer electronics and appliances were discarded in 1999 alone, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Much of it contains potentially hazardous toxic materials and needs to be recycled or disposed of safely, say environmentalists and government officials. But the sheer magnitude of the problem has taken cities and states by surprise, and the electronics industry has only recently begun to launch programs to collect old products.

Californians have an estimated 6 million old computer monitors and TVs gathering dust in their homes, according to a report by the state’s waste board. The state has banned the monitors and televisions from municipal dumps, requiring that they be treated as hazardous waste, because most contain 4 to 6 pounds of lead apiece.

The state, however, has yet to implement an alternative program for disposing of the electronic junk, and cities and counties across California are complaining that they are unfairly footing the costs of cleanup. Illegal dumping has become widespread as residents and businesses seek to avoid the fees sometimes imposed by local agencies to collect computer waste. Long Beach officials, for example, recently discovered nearly 10 tons of electronics dumped in a vacant lot.

Complicating matters, a home-grown computer recycling industry has been slow to develop. Much of the electronic waste is illegally exported to developing countries, where the computers are crudely dismantled and scavenged for parts, contaminating the water and soil of entire villages, according to government officials and environmental activists.

For the second straight year, legislation by state Sen. Byron Sher (D-Stanford) seeks to require recycling of all computers and televisions sold in California in an environmentally safe manner that is approved by the government.

Companies that do not meet the requirement would not be able to sell their products in California. All firms would have to meet a set of targets for clearing out the stockpiles of obsolete computers and TVs by 2007 and completely ending illegal disposal of the electronic waste by 2010, according to the latest version of the bill.

Most industry groups agree that the government is probably best suited to collect the heaps of computers and televisions, considering its existing networks to pick up garbage. To finance the collection, the bill, SB 20, would tack a fee at the point of sale onto new electronics. The numbers are still being worked out, but preliminary estimates range from $5 per computer to $10 for TVs larger than 35 inches.

Sher’s legislation would require manufacturers to run their own take-back programs to dispose of the waste.

That satisfies California-based Hewlett-Packard, which has hired union laborers and opened a recycling center in Roseville, near Sacramento, to dismantle its old computers. That facility and another one in Tennessee handle 3 million pounds of used electronics a month, according to the company. But Hewlett-Packard believes that it should not have a collection fee imposed on buyers of its computers if it pays the brunt of recycling costs.

“It’s not like we are just making an empty gesture; we are stepping up in a major way,” said David Isaacs, the company’s director of global public policy. “Clearly, there are costs, but we think that numerous entities, including consumers, are going to have to share the burden.”

Meanwhile, a coalition led by IBM that includes television makers Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba would prefer to pay the government a fee to conduct all the work, including the recycling.

In response, Sher seeks to allow for both options, with manufacturers being able to choose between running their own state-monitored recycling networks or paying to participate in a state-run recycling program.

The measure has already cleared the state Senate and is now in the Assembly.

“There are some different [industry] camps, but none of them are saying no. At this point, the devil is more in the details,” said Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), the head of the Assembly Environmental Safety Committee, which is scheduled to discuss the bill Monday.

“I don’t want to fool anybody that we have it solved,” she said. “There’s still some serious issues, but we should be able to get a bill [passed] this year that, if nothing else, sets the basic framework.”