State legislators are on the right track in pushing manufacturers to pay for recycling electronic waste.
The Legislature ordered people to recycle old television and computer monitors last year, but didn’t tell anyone how to pay for it.
That left counties, like Koochiching, holding the money bag. Koochiching County officials worried that putting the cost of disposing of electronic waste on consumers would mean that some people would toss the monitors into ditches or elsewhere.
The Association of Minnesota Counties reported that 53 of 87 counties had at least one instance of illegal dumping in the second half of 2006, and 44 counties reported finding discarded equipment in trash containers.
At issue is the hazardous materials, such as lead and mercury, contained in electronic devises. Improper disposal could lead to water and soil contamination and concerns about health.
Bills nearing votes in both the House and Senate would put much of the cost for disposal on electronics manufacturers. That makes sense. Consumers will probably end up picking up the costs for disposal when they purchase the electronics, but at least the fees will be paid up front.
Proposals at the Legislature would require television and computer manufacturers selling equipment in Minnesota to register with the state and pay $5,000 the first year and $2,500 the second year toward recycling efforts. Eventually, they will be required to establish a collection system and recycle an amount of material similar to the weight they sold the previous year.
Minnesota would be the fifth state to set up such a program.
There is opposition to Minnesota’s plan from Hewlett-Packard, which argues that the goals are too high and consumers won’t likely recycle enough for manufacturers to avoid a penalty. Those penalties will likely be passed onto consumers.
Sure, there may be details still to work out. But at the very least, this plan establishes a statewide system of recycling these electronics and that should go a long way in avoiding the illegal dumping of these materials.