Proposed bill would defund North Carolina’s electronics recycling program
A bill proposed by North Carolina Sen. Trudy Wade would defund the state’s electronics recycling program, which currently is funded by annual fees assessed to electronics manufacturers, according to an article by The News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Computer manufactures pay $10,000 to $15,000 initially and annual fees of $2,500 to $15,000 to be able to sell their devices in North Carolina. “The amount they pay depends on how aggressively they encourage consumers to use free and convenient recycling,” The article states. “Companies that agree to a most intense plan—which includes accepting devices in at least 50 counties—pay less in fees.”
The News & Observer reports that fees collected for the 2014 fiscal year equaled nearly $1 million.
If House Bill 765 becomes law, it would still be a requirement to recycle electronics in North Carolina. However, funding of such programs would be passed on to local governments, and, The News & Observer reports, they would either have to divert money from other uses or add fees to continue providing the service.
John Roberson, director of solid waste management for Wake County, told the paper, “If it passes, it’s likely to have a significant financial impact on us on the order of greater than $100,000 this coming year.”
The article quotes Diane Davis, executive director of the Carolina Recycling Association, as saying, ““We are very concerned about this. The impact on local government could be just unreal.”
Regarding her reasoning in introducing the bill, The News & Observer quotes Wade as saying, “We’re trying to be more business friendly, especially for companies that are already in North Carolina.”
North Carolina’s electronics recycling program has been in place for the past five years. It also banned televisions and computers from being disposed of in landfills, and that provision would be retained under the new bill.
According to The News & Observer, “About 30 million pounds of that merchandise was recycled in North Carolina last year, which is three times the amount when the program started. Over the past five years, a recycling system for those products has been built to provide free drop-off in all 100 counties through county and municipal programs, manufacturer locations and retail sites, according to the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which administers the program.”
More information on the state’s current electronics recycling program is available at http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/wm/sw/electronics.
Source: Recycling Today
A bill proposed by North Carolina Sen. Trudy Wade would defund the state’s electronics recycling program, which currently is funded by annual fees assessed to electronics manufacturers, according to an article by The News & Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina. Computer manufactures pay $10,000 to $15,000 initially and annual fees of $2,500 to $15,000 to be able to sell their devices in North Carolina. “The amount they pay depends on how aggressively they encourage consumers to use free and convenient recycling,” The article states. “Companies that agree to a most intense plan—which includes accepting devices in at least 50 counties—pay less in fees.” The News & Observer reports that fees collected for the 2014 fiscal year equaled nearly $1 million. If House Bill 765 becomes law, it would still be a requirement to recycle electronics in North Carolina. However, funding of such programs would be passed on to local governments, and, The News & Observer reports, they would either have to divert money from other uses or add fees to continue providing the service. John Roberson, director of solid waste management for Wake County, told the paper, “If it passes, it’s likely to have a significant financial impact on us…