According to Government Technology, Wisconsin's new law will require manufacturers to document that at least 80% of what they sell is being recycled. The new program, called E-Cycle Wisconsin, took effect Wednesday, Sept. 1, the rules of which require consumers to bring discarded electronics to one of the state's 300 collection sites, but the law gives the primary responsibility for collection and recycling to the manufacturer.
"Nothing's changed in terms of costs," he said," but with this bill, instead of all these costs falling on the taxpayers, the manufacturer bears the primary financial responsibility. Now we're actually getting paid a few cents a pound."
The law will not only help ensure manufacturers shoulder more of the weight of disposing of their products, but also help divert from landfills waste that can be reused for manufacturing, and on the more dire side, release metals including lead and mercury into the soil and groundwater.
Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources lists what is covered under the new law, from computers to televisions to gaming devices.
Advocates for electronics manufacturer responsibility have helped move laws like this forward, with Connecticut recently becoming the 24th state to institute an e-waste law. While it certainly isn't popular among the manufacturers who are being required to foot a larger portion of the bill, as we heard more about during last year's Consumer Electronics Show, we're sure to continue to see news that more states are adopting law -- and those that have them becoming more strict -- about what happens to electronics at the end of their useful life...Read the full story on TreeHuggerRelated: