A safe place to dump computers

The Oregonian, May 30, 2007

SALEM -- Whether you live in a city or small town, every Oregonian will have access to free and easy recycling for your old television and computer under a bill that's headed to the governor.

After several years of rejecting electronics recycling proposals, Oregon lawmakers wholeheartedly embraced the idea in 2007. The Senate voted unanimously and without debate Tuesday to approve House Bill 2626. The bill previously sailed through the House. It now goes to the governor for his promised signature.

The measure calls for statewide recycling of televisions, computer monitors, laptops and processors by Jan. 1, 2009. Other electronic products, such as cell phones and iPods, could be added to the law in the future.

"For every new computer sold, there is, in fact, a computer being discarded," said Sen. Frank Morse, R-Albany, who presented the bill on the Senate floor. Morse, who worked with computer-maker Hewlett Packard in drafting the bill, described the result as a responsible process to collect and recycle old computers and televisions.

Manufacturers will be required to register with the state and pay a recycling fee, to be determined by the number of products they sell in Oregon.

There are no hard numbers indicating how much of those extra costs will be passed on to consumers. But Jerry Powell, editor of Resource Recycling and E-Scrap News, both industry trade publications, estimates that consumers could pay $6 to $8 more for a television or monitor and about $1 for a computer's central processing unit.

Manufacturers could provide recycling services directly to their customers or pay a state-approved organization to handle their high-tech scrap.

Existing recycling operations -- such as Portland's Free Geek -- would continue to exist, as long as they can meet Department of Environmental Quality rules.

Advocates of the law have argued for some time that computer monitors, television sets and other so-called e-waste contain hazardous materials that can threaten humans and the environment if not properly handled.

As these health and environmental threats become more commonly recognized, states have moved to mandate proper electronics disposal.

Oregon will become the seventh state to adopt such an e-waste law. Texas passed its own bill last week.

Washington and California already have adopted electronics recycling laws, so the passage of the Oregon bill is significant, said Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Computer TakeBack Campaign, based in San Francisco.

"It makes the whole West Coast covered by some e-waste legislation," Kyle said Tuesday. "Also, one of the significant parts of the Oregon bill is that it gives the manufacturers the financial responsibility for these products when we're done with them."

In the long run, Kyle said, such laws may be the incentive for manufacturers to modify their products and to "make them less toxic."

Oregon's law would take effect in 2009, to give manufacturers time to adapt and state regulators time to write the rules. The bill also includes language prohibiting televisions, computer monitors and laptops from being dumped in state landfills as of Jan. 1, 2010.

In the meantime, Congress will continue to debate a national electronics recycling law, which could pre-empt state laws.

"Since last fall," Kyle said, "there's been renewed interest, particularly within the industry, to find a national solution because they don't like that states are moving ahead."

Michelle Cole: 503-294-5143; michellecole@news.oregonian.com