Minnesota recently joined California, Maine, Maryland and Washington as the only U.S. states to require electronics manufacturers to implement mandatory recycling programmes for electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). The Computer TakeBack Campaign has referred to the Minnesota WEEE legislation, which was approved by the state legislature on 2 May and signed into law by the governor on 8 May, as the strongest in the United States because it sets actual targets for how much equipment manufacturers must take back and recycle, measured as a percentage of the products they sell in the state. By contrast, California's WEEE regulations simply require retailers to collect fees from consumers at the point of sale for covered electronic devices, make certain?information available to consumers and submit annual reports on their recycling efforts to the California Board of Equalization. California has more comprehensive electronic waste requirements than Minnesota or any other U.S. state, however, because in addition to setting standards for electronic recycling they prohibit certain electronic devices from being sold or offered for sale state-wide if they are prohibited from sale in the European Union because they contain certain heavy metals.
In Maine, manufacturers must meet certain state and consumer reporting requirements and are responsible for paying consolidators for the costs of handling, transporting and recycling their own consumer electronic devices plus a pro rata share of "orphan" products (i.e., CEDs whose manufacturer cannot be identified or is no longer in business). The Washington WEEE programme requires manufacturers to implement an approved recycling programme for CEDs by 1 January 2009 that includes, among other things, full responsibility for covering all administrative and operational costs associated with the collection, transportation and recycling of their programme's equivalent share of CEDs. Maryland's WEEE regulations are somewhat more modest, requiring computer manufacturers that produced more than 1,000 computers per year in the immediately preceding three-year period to register with the Maryland Department of the Environment, pay a registration fee and comply with certain labelling requirements.
The Minnesota legislation prohibits the sale of new video display devices to retailers in the state on or after 1 September 2007 unless the VDD carries a permanently affixed and readily visible label with the manufacturer's brand and the manufacturer has filed an annual registration with the state. This registration must include (i) a list of the manufacturer's brands of VDDs offered for sale in the state; (ii) the name, address and contact information of a person responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulations; and (iii) a certification that the manufacturer has complied and will continue to comply with certain registration, reporting and recycling requirements. By 1 September 2008, VDD manufacturers must submit a statement every year disclosing whether any VDDs sold to households in the state exceed the maximum concentration values established for lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers under the EU's regulations on the use of hazardous substances in certain electronic devices (Directive 2002/95/EC), as amended, or whether the manufacturer has received an exemption from the EU for one or more of those maximum concentration levels. Manufacturers must pay an annual registration fee of US$5,000 during the initial programme year and US$2,500 plus a variable recycling fee for each year thereafter.
Beginning on 1 September 2008, manufacturers must also submit information on an annual basis regarding the total weight of each specific VDD model sold to households during the previous programme year, the total weight of its VDDs sold to households during the previous year or an estimate of the total weight of its VDDs sold to households during the previous programme year based on national sales data. Manufacturers must also report the total weight of CEDs that the manufacturer collected from households and recycled or arranged to have collected and recycled during the previous programme year, as well as any recycling credits purchased and sold during that period and in stock at the beginning of the new programme year.
VDDs are defined in the Minnesota WEEE legislation as televisions or computer monitors, including laptop computers, that contain a cathode-ray tube or a flat panel screen with a screen size greater than nine inches measured diagonally and are marketed by manufacturers for use by households. VDDs exempted from the regulations include: (i) VDDs that are part of a motor vehicle or any component part of a motor vehicle assembled by or for a vehicle manufacturer or franchised dealer; (ii) VDDs that are functionally or physically part of a larger piece of equipment or are designed and intended for use in an industrial, commercial, library checkout, traffic control, kiosk, security (other than household security), border control or medical setting; (iii) VDDs that are contained within a clothes washer, clothes dryer, refrigerator, refrigerator and freezer, microwave oven, conventional oven or range, dishwasher, room air conditioner, dehumidifier or air purifier; or (iv) telephones of any type unless they contain a video display area greater than nine inches measured diagonally. CEDs are defined as computers, peripherals, facsimile machines, DVD players, video cassette recorders and video display devices that are sold to a household by means of retail, wholesale or electronic commerce.
Most importantly, the Minnesota WEEE programme requires manufacturers to annually recycle or arrange for the collection and recycling of an amount of CEDs equal to the total weight of its VDDs sold to households during the preceding programme year, multiplied by the share of sales of VDDs required to be recycled (this requirement applies only to VDDs received from households). This share is 60 percent during the first year of the programme and 80 percent every year thereafter. Manufacturers must also conduct and document due diligence assessments of contracted collectors and recyclers and provide the state with contact information for a person who can be contacted regarding the manufacturer's recycling obligations.
According to the Computer TakeBack Campaign, WEEE legislation has been introduced in New York City and 23 states in 2007, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Vermont
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