Washington idea reduces techno trash

The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)

February 21, 2006 Tuesday
Sunrise Edition

KAYLA WEBLEY
The Oregonian

OLYMPIA --Philip Whiley says he picks up computers that look barely used, some a year old or newer.

Even though he's in the trash business, the owner of Happy Haulers in the Seattle area says he wishes people weren't always so eager to toss out some of their techno gadgets.

"It's amazing to see what people will put in the trash bin when you think of other people in the community, around the country and the world that would maximize the potential of the wasted product," he said.

The Washington Department of Ecology estimates that people will discard 2.8 million computers and 900,000 televisions in the next five years. By 2010, 9 million computers will be running in Washington homes --more than one computer per person, the department estimates.

The mounting pile of e-waste captured the attention of Washington lawmakers, who voted for a bill that establishes a statewide recycling program for people to unload their outdated computers, TVs and other electronic gear.

It would require manufacturers to organize and finance the program to haul away, take apart and dispose of unwanted items.

"Since the 1980s, the number of computers sold in the United States has been increasing exponentially," said Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, the bill's main sponsor. "In recent years, we're seeing the amount of electronic waste reaching landfills increasing in the same pattern."

Pridemore's bill passed 41-8 in the Senate and is now in the House.

Manufacturers would pay $6 to $10 for each computer and television set, but not for other electronic gear such as fax machines, printers, cell phones and batteries.

The money would go into a recycling system. Manufacturers could create their own programs, band together with other manufacturers, contract with private companies or plug into a program created by a new state agency, the Washington Materials Management and Financing Authority.

Pridemore's bill takes a different approach from California, which became the first state to control e-waste with a recycling fee. Instead of manufacturers, retailers in California collect $6 to $10 from consumers of cathode ray tubes, liquid crystal display screens and plasma devices.

The Environmental Protection Agency favors Pridemore's approach because it doesn't burden government with the responsibility for the recycling system, said Viccy Salazar, leader of the agency's waste, resource, conservation and stewardship team.

The program also would bring e-waste recycling to areas where it doesn't exist, she said. "Typically, there has been more access on the west side of the mountains. In rural areas, there is no access to recycling."

Pridemore said the fee would be easier to collect from a relatively few manufacturers compared with hundreds of stores charging a fee to thousands of customers.

Manufacturers are on both sides of the issue. Hewlett-Packard officials like the bill's flexibility in allowing companies to devise their own programs as long as they meet the requirements under the law.

HP already has a recycling program in place for consumers to pay a fee for HP to pick up their products for recycling.

Renee St. Denis, product recycling solutions manager at HP, said the program probably would stay intact, but that the company could devise other ways to get the products back, such as working with local groups and retailers to host collection days.

Some television manufacturers, including Sony, Sharp and Panasonic, oppose the measure because they say it would be difficult to administer. Manufacturers distribute their wares nationally and internationally, making it hard to get an accurate count of the number of sets sold in Washington, they said.

They favor paying the fee at the point of sale so they could better track the number of sets. Other manufacturers that oppose the fee say it will raise the cost for consumers.

"We are troubled by the idea that when you place the fee farther away from the point of sale, it will get more marked up as it moves to distribution. Every time someone handles the product, the price goes up," said David Thompson, director of Panasonic's Corporate Environmental Department. "Consumers may pay $7.50 when they only had to pay $5."

But Pridemore said the time is now to address the problem.

"We are probably a few years late in getting ahead of this program, but we can still make a major impact if we start now," he said.