Minnesota is the latest state to consider updating its e-scrap recycling law.
On March 4, a bill was introduced to state lawmakers, proposing to amend the structure used to determine e-scrap collection requirements for equipment manufacturers. Manufacturers are currently mandated to finance the state’s electronics recycling program, and each company’s requirement is determined by the volume of equipment they sell into the state annually.
The Product Stewardship Institute included a brief analysis of the proposed legislation in an email update this week, characterizing the change to the manufacturer requirements in the following way: “The new bill would … change the state’s reuse and recycling goals every year in response to changing weights and quantities of electronic products sold and recycled. [Minnesota Pollution Control Agency] will publish a new recycling goal each year based on the sum of the average weight of the electronic devices collected for recycling in the preceding two years.”
A number of states, including New Jersey and Illinois, have in recent months made similar moves to update their own e-scrap legislation. Many state bills were passed nearly a decade ago, and they didn’t fully anticipate the glut of CRT devices and corresponding cost crunch that have hindered the electronics recycling landscape of late.
Minnesota’s e-scrap legislation was passed in 2007 and amended in 2009.
The bill introduced this month also proposes to broaden the scope of state’s electronics disposal ban. Currently, CRT devices are prohibited from entering the municipal solid waste stream. The bill would add a variety of products to that ban, including cellphones, video game consoles and computers and computer peripherals.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Frank Hornstein, who represents a district in Minneapolis and is a member of the Democratic-Farm-Labor party. It has been referred to the House of Representatives’ committee on Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finances.