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Federal Legislation on E-Waste

There are three areas where Congress is working on the E-Waste issue, each examined below.

  • Stopping the Global Dumping of E-Waste
  • Research and Development on the Challenges to Recycling and Green Design
  • National Takeback and Recycling Program

Legislation Needed to Stop the Global Dumping of E-Waste

Congressional Resolution H.Res. 938:

Leading by example in handling e-waste from Congress

A new resolution has been introduced in Congress, calling on congress to develop a plan for managing its own e-waste, which requires the use of recyclers certified to the new e-Stewards standards, which prohibit export of e-waste to developing nations or sending e-waste to prison recycling operations.

The bipartisan resolution was sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson (CA) and co-sponsored by Rep Gene Green (D-TX), Rep. Mary Bono-Mack (R-CA), and Brian Bilbray (R-CA).

The resolution, H.Res. 938, calls for Congress to establish and implement “a coordinated program for the reuse, recycling, and appropriate disposal of obsolete computers and other electronic equipment used by offices of the legislative branch using only those companies independently certified as meeting the e-Stewards Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment, which forbids the export of e-waste to developing countries and use of prison labor.” 

The E-Steward was developed by the Basel Action Network (BAN), a partner organization in the Electronics TakeBack Coalition. It is the highest standard in the industry, and the only standard that does not permit the export of e-waste to developing nations. For several years, BAN has operated a "Pledge" program, where recyclers would pledge to follow high standards voluntarily. BAN has taken the core principles of this pledge and developed it into a comprehensive standard, and has added an accredited certification program.

More information on the e-Steward program.

Export legislation

We are hopeful that Congress will introduce strong legislation to ban the export of toxic e-waste from the US to developing countries. This would be an historic step in bringing the US in line with the rest of the countries in the "developed" world, who have agreed to stop dumping their toxic e-waste on poor countries around the globe.

Legislation on E-Waste Research and Development

HR 1580: Electronic Waste Research and Development Act

Status: Passed House. Companion bill, S 1397 (Klobuchar) was introduced in Senate, assigned to EPW Committee

circuit board photo

Rep Bart Gordon introduced HR 1580, which:

  • Authorizes the EPA to award grants for electronic waste reduction research, development, and demonstration projects. Grants will be awarded to educational institutions, working with industry, to conduct research to create innovative and practical approaches to reduce the volume and manage the environmental impacts of electronic waste

  • Asks the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on how we can reduce the volume of electronic waste, specifically addressing

    • (i) recycling or safe disposal of electronic waste and low value materials recovered from such waste;

    • (ii) designing electronic devices to facilitate re-use and recycling; and

    • (iii) the re-use of electronic devices; and (B) making electronic devices safer and more environmentally friendly, specifically addressing reducing the use of hazardous materials and potentially hazardous materials in electronic devices;

    • the risks posed by disposal of electronic waste; and

    • the current status of research and training programs to promote the environmental design of electronic devices to reduce electronic waste.

  • Awards grants to higher education institutions to develop curicculum on environmental design for electronics

House Science Committee E-Waste Hearings

The House Committee on Science and Technology has held two hearings on this issue.

Hearing on February 11, 2009 - Hearing info, topics, witness list.

Hearing on April 30, 2008. Link to testimony from the panel from last year's hearings. Ted Smith, ETBC Chair, testified before the Committe, along with representatives from industry and academia.

Congressional Work on a National Takeback and Recycling Program

The topic of creating a national approach to e-waste take back had been discussed for many years at the federal level. (See history, below.) The most recent effort was from the Congressional E-Waste Working Group.

Congressional E-Waste Concepts Paper

In March, 2008, a group of eight members of Congress released a draft "Concepts Paper" for federal e-waste legislation. This document was sent to stakeholders - manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, States, NGOs (including ETBC), etc - for comments. The paper is intended to lead to discussion on a federal e-waste solution Stakeholders were asked to comment by March 14, 2008.

The members of Congress participating in the discussion on e-waste legislation are:

Why Don't We Have a Federal TakeBack Law?

We often hear representatives from the industry associations complaining that we have a "patchwork" of state laws, and no federal law on electronics takeback. But history explains that it's actually the industry's own disagreements on this issue that has prevented a federal takeback law, which led the states to tackle this issue at the state level. Here's the history:

Multi-Stakeholder Process: NEPSI 2001-2004. A three year stakeholder process convened by the EPA brought together industry, government, retailers, NGO's and recyclers into a dialogue known as NEPSI - the National Electronic Product Stewardship Initiative. NEPSI fell apart in 2004 because of disagreements within the industry about who would pay for recycling. TheTV companies were adamantly opposed to producer responsibility, and the computer companies were willing to support it.

Industry Associations:

Next, we saw two different proposals from the industry associations. EIA (now ITIC) proposed legislation in 2007 that codified the industry split, proposing a consumer fee based approach to pay for TV recycling, and producer responsibility for IT equipment. When that failed to catch on, the retailers industry association and HP made a proposal that also failed to garner wide support.  

Congressional E-Waste Working Group:

Next, the members of Congress gave it a shot. In March of 2008, the Congressional E-waste Working Group put out a detailed concepts paper for federal legislation in February of this year. The NGO’s liked most of it, as did state and local governments. But industry did not support it.

Prior ity Should Be Legislation to Stop the Global Dumping of E-Waste

The Electronics TakeBack Coalition believes that the issue that most needs federal legislation is the problem of global dumping of our e-waste on developing countries. Most e-waste collected by recyclers in the USis actually exported to developing countries, causing horrific contamination. Before we do any more ramping up of e-waste collections, we need to close the door on the export to poor countries.

Current regulations

Under federal regulations, unwanted electronic equipment that contains a cathode ray tube (CRT) or mercury are considered hazardous waste. But these hazardous waste regulations do not apply, however, to household sources of electronics, or to "small quantity generators" - businesses that generate under 7-8 CRTs per year, because the EPA has decided to exempt them. The EPA revised the CRT rules in July 2006, but did not remove this small generator exemption. Therefore, it is perfectly legal for us to throw our electronic waste into the trash in most states. (Some states have taken action to ban e-waste.)

EPA's CRT Rule

View relevant federal regulations: Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Part 261

States Can Treat E-Waste as Toxic Waste

States may promulgate their own regulations defining hazardous waste. California's Department of Toxic Substances Control considers cathode ray tubes (CRTs) in computer monitors, television sets, and other devices containing significant concentrations of lead and other heavy metals, as hazardous waste when they are discarded. Therefore, they must be managed in accordance with hazardous waste requirements in California.

Resources on the e-waste export problem

On Sept 17, 2008, the GAO released a called "Electronic Waste: EPA Needs To Better Control Harmful US Exports throught Stronger Enforcement and More Comprehensive Regulation." Link to GAO report.

Learn more about the problem with e-waste exports to developing countries, on the ETBC website.