Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

February 6, 2011

Maine may dump e-waste statute

Gov. LePage proposes reviewing the law, which requires makers of electronic products to pay for recycling them.

By Beth Quimby bquimby@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

(Continued from page 1)

The Maine Chamber of Commerce has not taken a position on the electronic waste law. The chamber supported the adoption of the state's product stewardship law last year, making Maine the first state in the country to set up an ongoing process for the Legislature to add new products to the list.

The list presently includes cell phones, mercury batteries, auto switches and thermostats, and compact fluorescent bulbs.

The Consumer Electronics Association, the Arlington, Va., trade organization for the consumer electronics industry, would welcome changes to Maine's electronic waste law, said Walter Alcorn, vice president of environmental affairs.

"The Maine program is one of the most expensive state programs in the country, and the $3,000 fee is a long-standing concern because it hits smaller manufacturers the hardest," said Alcorn.

He said his association is committed to recycling but supports voluntary programs such as Best Buy's, which takes back electronics at its 1,200 stores.

The Maine Municipal Association, which has embraced most of the LePage deregulation proposals that would affect cities and towns, does not support getting rid of the electronic waste and other product stewardship laws because doing so could raise property taxes.

The electronic waste law has been effective in cutting down on municipal waste. Since 2006, 22 million pounds of electronics were recycled under the program, according to the DEP. That saved municipal taxpayers about $7 million and took 3.3 million pounds of lead and other toxic substances out of the waste stream.

The state's household electronic recycling rate went from 3.2 pounds per capita in 2006 to 6.19 pounds in 2009, the latest data available.

And there is room to grow because the program is capturing only half of the TV sets and computers being tossed out by households. State Rep. Melissa Walsh-Innes, D-Yarmouth, has filed a bill this session to expand the program to small businesses.

It is true that under the program, Mainers have fewer shopping choices for TV sets. There are 17 manufacturers of TVs and computer monitors on the "do not sell list" distributed to Maine retailers. Those companies elected not to pay the registration fee.

But consumers are saving on disposal costs. Before the law was passed in 2004, municipalities typically charged consumers $25 to dispose of a television set. Now that manufacturers have to pay the recycling costs, handling fees have been reduced to $2 to $4. Some cities and towns, such as Portland, have eliminated fees.

Electronic recycling laws are not under fire in other states, said Jason Linnell, executive director of the National Center for Electronics Recycling.

He said that 65 percent of the country's population is covered by electronic waste recycling laws.

"No state has rolled back their program. If anything, they are expanding them," said Linnell.

Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com

 

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