Council Mulls Forcing Recycling of Electronics

Electronics manufacturers would be required to set up recycling programs under legislation being considered by the City Council.

"People are buying electronics at a faster pace than they ever have before," Jean Weinberg, a spokeswoman for the bill's lead sponsor, Council Member Bill de Blasio, said yesterday. "New York City residents buy 92,000 tons of electronic devices every year and these items do not last a lifetime. They don't just produce product waste; they produce toxic waste, such as lead, mercury, and arsenic, that can harm the environment."

Under the legislation, manufacturers of electronic devices would have to submit plans to the city government for approval on how to allow consumers to send back their used items for recycling. The companies would have to meet benchmarks as to what percentage of their product output, by volume, is taken back each year, starting at 25% in 2012 and rising to 45% in 2015 and 65% by 2018. "The bill is completely nonspecific in terms of what the program the manufacturer establishes needs to look like," the senior attorney of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Kate Sinding, said yesterday.

Companies that failed to comply with the legislation would be subject to stiff fines — $50,000 for every percentage point below their target. The bill contains a waiver for businesses that demonstrate that increased sales made the goal unreachable and, according to Ms. Sinding, the city could amend the goals before the first target date if it became clear they were unrealistic.

Several states have passed similar legislation in recent years, including California, Maryland, and Maine, while in New Jersey a bill cleared the state assembly earlier this week. Some consumer electronics companies already have voluntary recycling programs in place, such as Dell, which offers to pick up its products from customers for recycling, and Apple and Hewlett-Packard, which accept mailed-in products.