New Law Forces Manufacturers to Pick up Recycling Costs

[Judi Lynn]

New Law Forces Manufacturers to Pick up Recycling Costs

January 19, 2006 — By Jerry Harkavy, Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine — A first-in-the-nation law went into effect Wednesday in Maine, requiring makers of televisions and computer monitors to pick up the tab to recycle and safely dispose of their products once they are discarded.

Under the law, which mirrors the approach taken in Europe and Japan, manufacturers must shoulder the cost of sending electronics to recycling centers where toxic materials such as lead and mercury are removed.

"It's time to bring them out of the attics, out of the garages, out of the closets, out of the basements," said Jon Hinck of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, which lobbied for the new law.

The Maine recycling law is the first to bill manufacturers directly for the cost, Hinck said. A California law requires customers to pay a disposal fee when they buy a TV or computer monitor, while Maryland imposes registration fees on computer makers and disburses the proceeds to municipalities for use in recycling old hardware.

Up until now, Maine communities charged people $15 to $20 to dispose of their electronic gear. Under the new law, consumers can drop off their TVs and computer screens for $2 apiece.
(snip/...)

http://www.enn.com/biz.html?id=1303

[baby_mouse]

1. Haven't HP and the like been doing this anyway?

Printer toners get recycled by Hewlett Packard, don't they? You just send them back.

Good for Maine, BTW.

[f-bush]

2. Good

It's about time these corporate leeches took some personal responsibility!

[phoebe]

3. beats sending all that mercury to some "3rd world" nation so that

we may continue to pollute and toxify other people's lives.

Now, if only we could get Coca Cola and the bottle makers to do the same..and even more importantly the chemical industry..like Dupont and Scott's.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Manufacturers or distributors? 99.99999% are made in china.

Does this law apply to the chinese?

[Toots]

5. Didn't Bush* declare making hamburgers as manufacturing?

Do they have to wipe my ass after they pick up my recycled burger?