The EU is working to provide a financial incentive to companies to redesign products to reduce their environmental impacts.| Giannis Papanikos/Shutterstock
The European Union is looking to financially reward OEMs that produce environmentally friendly devices and punish those that don’t. Industry groups are urging caution.
Improperly disposed lithium-ion batteries can be a fire risk at e-scrap facilities. | anantachat/Shutterstock
Legislation making lithium-ion battery producers responsible for collecting and recycling the products they sell is advancing in California.
California regulators plan to lower the fees consumers pay to fund electronics recycling. The issue? The state is accumulating too much money.
With over two dozen e-scrap laws around the country, it can be hard to keep up with their unique requirements. An industry group now provides a single resource covering all the intricacies.
North Carolina capitol building in Raleigh.
Lawmakers in North Carolina are again advancing a bill that would eliminate restrictions on disposing TVs and computer equipment.
The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island will expand the list of devices covered by its extended producer responsibility law.
Nova Scotia is banning additional types of electronics from disposal, a move that requires product manufacturers to expand their recycling services under the province’s extended producer responsibility program.
California’s e-scrap program took a hit when ECS Refining closed in June 2018, but it was anything but a critical blow. Other local and national e-scrap companies took up the slack.
The Washington state e-scrap program experienced its largest percentage decline in collected pounds last year.
In Uganda, end-of-life cell phones are collected before being shipped for recycling.
Tech companies are seeing boosted demand for environmental leadership, and e-scrap management concerns continue to mark developing countries. An enterprise in Europe is working to help out on both fronts.