What to Do With Yesterday's Electronics?
E-waste Legislation What to Do With Yesterday's Electronics? Discarded High-tech Gadgets Threaten Our Health.Senate Bill 20 passed both houses of the California Legislature and heads to the Governor's desk for a signature as of 9/12/03. Senate Bill 20, by Senator Byron Sher (D-Palo Alto), establishes a recycling fee to be paid by the consumer of cathode ray tube (CRT) devices such as computer monitors and televisions. CRT devices, also known as "E-Waste," can contain lead, cadmium, mercury and other hazardous materials that pose significant risk to health.

For instance, computer monitors and televisions typically contain four to eight pounds of lead. Currently, less than 10% of CRT devices are recycled, despite a statewide ban on putting CRT devices into landfills. Many end up in landfills nonetheless, and then pose a significant risk of toxics leaking into nearby groundwater.

Ted Smith of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition has said, "E-Waste is one of the fastest-growing and most toxic waste streams." Some 70 million computers have already been discarded.

Unfortunately, E-Waste that does avoid our landfills is often exported to developing countries, where the devices are picked apart by low wage laborers who are not protected from the toxic releases.

The FCC recently ruled that, within four years, televisions must be equipped with technology for receiving over-the-air digital signals. As a result of this action, an estimated 500 million CRT devices will need to be recycled. In a climate where the overall rate of consumer recycling has slowed down since the 1990s, many experts see E-Waste handling as the next step of recycling and consumer responsibility (after paper, plastic, and cans).

The issue of E-Waste is global and could soon overwhelm us with millions of tons of toxic waste. We must take the necessary steps to address, plan for and prepare for proper disposal of CRT devices.
How Senate Bill 20 Changes Current Law Existing law states that CRT devices cannot be disposed of in California landfills. There are local programs in place in some parts of the state for turning in used CRT devices. SB 20 would establish California's first-ever front end financing system for recycling E-Waste by implementing a system based on new consumer purchases of certain CRT devices.