Haste maketh waste in the fast-paced world of technology. Every year, Americans trash two million tons of old computers and other forms of electronic waste. While that’s a tiny fraction of the nation's total waste stream, the issue of what to do with all the "e-waste" is creating hype and hysteria among state and federal lawmakers.
The issue first came to fore in California in 2003, when the state passed legislation to charge consumers an e-waste recycling fee. Starting January 1, if you buy a TV or home computer from a manufacturer in California, you will pay $6 to $10 to finance a costly, statewide program to collect and recycle all used monitors. Moreover, manufacturers are required to rethink the way they build computers. By 2007, they must phase out lead—currently used in computers to protect users from the tube's x-rays—mercury, cadmium, and other substances crucial to the operation of PCs.
In Maine, a law enacted last spring is even more draconian, requiring manufacturers to arrange and pay to have their used computers and TVs collected and recycled. Many other states are considering similar legislation.
In Washington, Governor Locke last year signed a bill requiring further study on the e-waste issue. The law requires the Department of Ecology to conduct research and to present recommendations for implementing a collection, recycling, and reuse program for PCs, computer monitors, and TVs. It also directs the department to "encourage" new recycling pilot projects, and to compile information on electronics manufacturers current recycling practices. While the new law appears to focus on the gathering of information, it likely will set the stage for e-waste recycling mandates down the road.
Meanwhile, Congress is weighing in to provide a national "solution" and prevent a hodgepodge of 50 different state laws. In January, Reps. Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced legislation to require consumers to pay a $10 fee on purchases of new computers to fund a nationwide e-waste recycling program. While the fee may seem small, it is unlikely to remain low for long; the cost to recycle a single computer is six times that amount. Indeed, some green activist groups already are arguing that California's $10 fee is not high enough to cover recycling costs, and that it should be raised to $60.
Widespread panic among lawmakers is based on misinformation spread largely by powerful eco-activist groups who argue that the growing amount of electronic waste reflects the ills of a "throw-away" society and that recycling e-waste is a moral obligation to achieve "zero waste tolerance." One such myth is that e-waste is growing at an uncontrollable, "exponential" rate, and we are running out of landfill space. Another is that heavy metals contained in computers are leaking out of landfills, poisoning the soil.
In reality, e-waste has remained at only 1 percent of the total municipal waste stream since EPA began calculating electronics discards in 1999. According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, the number is even lower here. Electronic waste accounts for only 0.3% of municipal solid waste in Washington. Furthermore, the annual number of obsolete home computers is expected to level off at 63 million this year. While that may sound like a lot of computers, it's not an unmanageable amount. Our landfills are fully equipped to handle the nation's waste—and e-waste.
Nor is there any scientific evidence that e-waste in landfills presents health risks. Today's landfills contain thick, puncture-resistant liners that keep waste from coming into contact with soil and groundwater. A year-long, peer-reviewed study released last March by the Solid Waste Association of North America concluded that, "extensive data…show that heavy metal concentrations in leachate and landfill gas are generally far below the limits…established to protect human health and the environment."
The real problem is that lawmakers, due to misplaced fears, have banned TVs and PCs from municipal landfills and now don’t know where to put them.
Mandated recycling is not the answer. The costs, ultimately passed on to consumers, are staggering—$500 per ton of e-waste to recycle vs. $40 per ton to landfill. "Eco-design" requirements will cripple technological innovation, and substance bans will unleash a host of unintended health and environmental risks.
There is good news. Manufacturers are recycling their own products, and they're doing it better and cheaper than government. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Gateway, and IBM are just a few of the many manufacturers operating their own recovery programs, recycling over 160 million pounds of e-waste a year.
How to make it even more successful? Keep government’s nose out of the e-garbage.
Dana Joel Gattuso is an adjunct scholar with the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). This article is based on the report, Mandating Recycling of Electronics: A Lose-Lose-Lose Proposition, published by CEI, February 2005.
