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California Tries to Halt Hazardous E-waste Exports By Hugh Biggar
January 26, 2004

By the end of 2004, an estimated 315 million computers will have become obsolete in the United States over the past two decades. Many are ending up in unregulated scrap yards and factories in developing countries, where they can cause severe environmental damage and health problems.

Over the past two decades, Silicon Valley has played a large role in the generation of this computer trash. Now, however, the state has decided to do something about it. On July 1 a new law will take affect in the state, the first in the nation to attempt to restrict the problems caused by e-waste exports.

"This problem needed to be dealt with due to the related environmental and health concerns in developing countries," says Jessica Fiedor, Local Government Liaison and Policy Analyst for Californians Against Waste, a Sacramento nonprofit organization that helped sponsor the legislation.

A report released last year by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition showed that up 80 percent of American e-waste is sent to Asia, often poisoning people and the environment after arrival. In China, for example, workers use their hands and crude tools to pull apart old computers and other high technology devices in a search for salvageable parts to recycle. In the process, these workers expose themselves to lead, cadmium, barium, mercury and other highly toxic materials. And in other countries such as India, computer trash is frequently burned, sending toxins into the environment.

In response, CAW sponsored the new law, SB 20. "It is especially important for California to take the lead on this issue," Fiedor explained, due to the state's role in creating e-waste. "In China last year, computers were found (in scrap yards) with Los Angeles school district tags on them."

Although SB 20, signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis just before he left office, is supposed to help forge change, Roni Java, the Press Officer with the California Integrated Waster Management Board, which is the state agency overseeing SB 20,cautions that, "none of this is concrete right now. There are still ongoing discussions about [potential] changes."

As it stands now, the law requires any manufacturer or retailer of electronic devices containing hazardous materials to pay a fee to the state covering the cost of recycling. The fees are set initially at $6-$10 and are paid by the consumer at the point of purchase. Ultimately, however, the cost will be based on the actual cost of recycling. This fee will then be used to fund the collection and recycling of future e-waste materials under a market-based incentive program.

"This money ensures the costs won't be passed onto
local governments," says Megan Taylor, Director of Communications for the League of California Cities, which supports the law.

The law also places restrictions on exports of the growing numbers of old computers in the state. According CAW, there are an estimated 6 million unwanted computers in the state and up to 15,000 become obsolete each day. Under an agreement between California and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international organization made up of member states, "it is now illegal to export e-waste unless it can be handled in ways that meet OECD requirements for hazardous waste," says Fiedor.

Furthermore, in order to be reimbursed by the state for recycling, manufacturers and retailers must now "prove their devices are now being [recycled] properly, otherwise they don't get paid."

SB 20 represents a departure from traditional U.S. policy. The United States lags behind other nations in its restrictions of e-waste exports. It has not signed an international agreement banning the exports of hazardous e-waste from wealthy countries to poor countries.

"This has forced us to be more of a leader," says Fiedor. "When are old products are found in other nations, the states have to bring action when the federal government is slow [in responding]." Eleven other states also had pending e-waste legislation, all of which failed to pass.

Even so, Fiedor remains optimistic. She hopes California can lead the way, noting "it is up to the states to deal with this until the federal government can get its act together."

Contact Hugh Biggar at hbiggar at stanford.edu.

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