Policies & Legislation

Electronic Equipment and Product Stewardship

Electronics Model Legislation

US House of Representatives Resolution on E-Waste Export

Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee Chairman Gene Green (D-Texas) introduced a House Resolution (PDF file, 30KB) on July 31, 2008 which expresses opposition to federal policy which allows toxic electronic waste to be exported to developing countries. The resolution also encourages the US to join other developed nations which ban the export of such material. Hazardous waste export is regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, yet the majority of electronic waste is excluded or exempt from the definitions of waste and hazardous waste. State e-waste legislation cannot constitutionally ban the export of such material because it infringes upon federal government authority to regulate international trade. Rep. Green has indicated that he intends to file federal legislation to ban the export of e-waste in 2009. See Rep. Gene Green's July 2008 Press Release for more information.

2008 US Congress Drafting National E-Waste Plan

The 2008 Congress is planning to draft its own version of a national e-waste plan even if industry stakeholders fail to find consensus. California Representative Mike Thompson (D) founded the bi-partisan Congressional E-Waste Working Group to work on standardizing national laws for recycling and disposing of discarded electronic and computer equipment. The group created a concept paper that describes an electronics producer responsibility model as a means of financing the collection and recycling of discarded electronics and more importantly creates a set of guidelines that would be consistent in all states. Learn more about the concept paper and read government comments from the Product Stewardship Institute. The group also helped initiate Congressional hearings on e-waste management in April 2008.

Council of State Governments/Eastern Regional Conference & Northeast Recycling Council, Inc.

In February 2005, the Council of State Governments/Eastern Regional Conference and the Northeast Recycling Council, Inc. (NERC) launched a collaborative project to develop a coordinated legislative approach to end-of-life electronics management in the Northeast. As part of the project, state legislators and legislative and environmental agency staff collaborated to draft model electronics product stewardship legislation in 2006. See their March 2008 Comparison Chart of State Electronic Recycling Laws (PDF file, 16KB). The Council of State Governments provides information, research, and training to state officials in all 50 states and U.S. territories, and promotes the exchange of ideas among state policy makers.

Product Stewardship Institute

The NWPSC assisted the national Product Stewardship Institute to draft model electronics product stewardship legislation in 2006 for states that wish to introduce legislation that will require product manufacturers and brand owners to share the responsibility for managing used electronic products.

The NWPSC encourages the inclusion of these key points in product stewardship legislation for used electronics products:

• The legislation should be consistent with and not counter to the National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative process. NEPSI is a national dialogue involving 45 stakeholders and over 30 observers, including all levels of government, manufacturers, environmental groups, recyclers, and retailers. The dialogue was initiated in April 2001 with the goal of developing a voluntary national system for the collection, reuse, and recycling of used electronic products. The dialogue will also address environmentally sound recycling practices and issues surrounding export of e-scrap for recycling.
• The legislation should include the same range of electronic products - computer monitors, central processing units (CPUs), laptop computers, computer peripherals - keyboards, mice, printers, scanners, speakers, and cables - that are covered in the NEPSI dialogue. It should allow for adding new products over time.
• The legislation must require a producer-financed and managed collection and recycling system.
• The finance system should be charged at the front end, preferably included in the price of the product. It should not charge a fee at end of life when the product is being recycled.
• The system must include the funding and services to collect and process historical wastes, wastes resulting from products that were manufactured and/or reached the end of their life before the legislation was passed and orphan wastes, wastes resulting from products made by manufacturers who have left the market by the time their products became waste.
• The funds will not be collected by government agency.
• The manufacturers may contract with a Third Party Organization to handle the system administration and operation.
• The system must meet a specified level of service and coverage. Recovery rates and dates for meeting these rates should be included in the legislation.
• The system should include standards for environmentally responsible recycling processes.

NWPSC Policymakers Bulletin - A New Policy Tool to Ease Budget Woes (PDF file, 126KB) Find out how product stewardship legislation can shift the costs of managing end-of-life products from local governments to those that produce and use the product.

Current Electronics Legislation

Visit our NW States Policies & Legislation page or US States Policies & Legislation page for information on the status of electronics product stewardship bills in the Pacific Northwest or in States outside the NW.

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