SB20 Passes in California                                       3 Feb 2004
by Brian Hamlin for the NCRA News

  Have you tried to recycle those old computers piling up in the garage, lately
?  Maybe there is a monitor or two - or even that 42" color behemoth that
served so well for so many years ?  The way used electronics, notably CRTs, are
being handled is changing.  Here is a snapshot of the story.

  California banned CRT disposal from landfill, and hence the ability to drop
those monitors and TVs in the garbage, on August 3, 2001, following
Massachusetts lead a little more than a year earlier. After more than 2 years
of legislative head-butting, then Gov. Davis signed SB20, the California
Electronic Waste Recycling Act, into law on Sep. 24, 2003.  SB20 is being
shaped in regulation by the joint efforts of the DTSC and CIWMB as we speak.
Barring any surprise actions from our new Republican leadership, portions of
the law will go into effect throughout 2004 and beyond.

  So what does this mean to the recycling community ?  SB20 brings money into a
recycling system for CRTs, perhaps a lot of money, but its not scalable or even
desirable as a long term solution to electronics waste handling.
  SB20 relies on an upfront fee paid by consumers at product purchase time,
somewhat like the Bottle Bill, to create a state-administered fund to pay for
end-of-life handling and destruction. Sometimes those materials are recycled,
but not always. And more importantly, since no costs are tied to the way the
product is built or dissasembled, there is no hard motivation for the
manufacturer to change the design of these complex products to make for better
end-of-life processing.

  Where will the processing of used CRTs be done ?  By now alomost everyone
knows that there have been serious abuses of discarded electronics in the name
of recycling, primarily in China.  SB20 does not on its face deal with the
export issue well. Efforts are underway in Sacramento to tighten up scrutiny
and enforcement of used CRT material export regulatiuon, but right now it looks
like a lot of "business as usual" ahead for overseas processors.

  On the ground in California, recyclers will be able to handle CRTs - that is
computer monitors and TVs - as universal waste, and be paid something for their
efforts starting this Fall. But the fact is that eventially all electronics,
more and more every day, have to be recycled. The sooner a reliable industrial
infrastructure builds out to handle the volume, and the products themselves
evolve to facilitate the process, the better. 

  SB20 is a stopgap measure that will bring dollars to local collections
programs, but it won't work as the scope of products expands, and the debate
returns to the national level for a policy solution to this increasingly
pressing problem.  The European Union is still miles ahead on program direction
in Electronic Waste recycling, and the US would be wise to look to the EU for
the standards that are being set in years to come.