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History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Provides for the recycling and regulates the sale of certain electronic equipment
In Assembly Committee · Environmental Conservation · Sponsor William Colton
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to electronic equipment recycling; and to amend the state finance law, in relation to establishing the electronic equipment recycling account within the environmental protection fund
Purpose
The bill establishes electronic equipment manufacturer's responsibility for the collection, transportation and recycling of certain electronic equipment, based on their market share of this equipment.
Summary of provisions
The bill creates a program whereby manufacturers of certain electronic equipment are financially responsible for the collection, transportation and recycling of such electronic equipment. Manufacturers would be responsible for:
* registering with the Department and paying a registration fee of $5,000; * reporting the total weight of covered electronic equipment sold annually in the state, or alternatively request the Department of estimate such weight based on national sales data prorated by state population; * paying an additional fee based on their share of the total covered electronic devices sold in the state, or alternatively submitting a plan to run their own collection program.
If manufacture collection programs exceed their annual collection targets, they may credit the excess to their next year's collection target or sell "credits" to another registrant. All fees from the program would be deposited into the Electronic Equipment Recycling Fund in the Environmental Protection Fund.
Retailers would be responsible posting information on where and how to recycle the covered electronic equipment. Retailers would only be able to sell electronic equipment manufactured by companies in compliance with the act.
The Department would be responsible to oversee the collections program for manufacturers opting out of running their own collection programs, which would be financed by the fees paid by these manufacturers. The Department would be responsible to ensure that collection programs were conveniently located throughout the state in every county. The Department would be authorized to contract with municipalities, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations for the collection, transportation and recycling of covered electronic equipment.
Manufacturers could not charge any of the fees to consumers. All equipment would be required to be recycled in an environmentally sound manner that does not pose a significant risk to public health or the environment. Two years after the law is enacted, it would be illegal to dispose of any of the covered electronic equipment in a solid waste management facility.
The bill also contains enforcement provisions for violations of the program requirements.
Justification
The bill is an outgrowth of a year-long process led by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Eastern Region and the Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) working with representatives of fourteen northeastern US states. The model is also being proposed in a group of Midwestern states. Stakeholders from all affected entities, including manufacturers, retailers, scrap dealers, steel manufacturers, citizen organizations and others, were actively involved in the process.
Due to the high market saturation of certain electronic equipment, it is imperative that environmentally responsible management methods are established for these items Electronic equipment in households, schools, offices and other facilities contain heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury as well as other hazardous components or additives, Left to traditional disposal methods, these components can pose a significant threat to public health and the environment.
Therefore, manufacturers of such equipment should bear some responsibility for the safe handling of such equipment at the end of their useful life. Requiring recovery of waste electronic equipment is important for waste reduction and environmental protection.
Legislative history
S.5243 of 2007-2008
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect one year after it shall become law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.