Municipalities hail the shift of costs to brand owners

BOSTON - On Tuesday the Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture voted to approve a bill that would make computer and TV recycling free to residents, businesses of all sizes, governments, schools, and non-profits in Massachusetts.  If the bill becomes law, the brand owners that produce and market these products would assume the costs for collecting and processing them when they are discarded.

“This law, and other producer responsibility laws, give brand owners a financial incentive to design products that are durable and easy to disassemble and recycle,” according to Northampton Mayor-elect David Narkewicz, who chairs the Massachusetts Product Stewardship Council (MAPSC).

Representatives of Massachusetts cities and towns formed MAPSC last fall in order to increase recycling and shift the responsibility for managing product and packaging waste from the cities and towns to the producers of the products.

One hundred and eighty-two municipalities, including Boston, Worcester, and Springfield have passed resolutions calling for legislation to address the mounting volume of electronic waste. The bill is often referred to as the “e-waste take-back bill.”  

“Similar laws for electronics have already been enacted in every state on the East Coast from Maine to South Carolina--except Massachusetts and New Hampshire,“ says Lynne Pledger, MAPSC Coordinator.

Municipal representatives testified before the Environment Committee in May that they need relief from the costs of managing discarded electronic products.

Rory Casey, representing Holyoke on the MAPSC Steering Committee, said that a producer responsibility bill for electronics would mean that the funds the city spends on recycling computers and TVs could be directed to another area of need, such as the city’s school system.

David Lutes, Director of Somerville's Office of Sustainability and Environment, says that the city expects to spend $40,000 on recycling computers and TVs this year.   "This cost has doubled over the past two years because the number of monitors being recycled has gone way up.  Manufacturers are marketing these products to consumers as something that needs to be upgraded frequently but the burden of dealing with the old ones falls to municipalities", he added.     

Another reason that municipalities back this bill is that other states that have passed similar legislation have seen more jobs in collection and recycling as a result.

A report from the Tellus Institute, More Jobs, Less Pollution, released on Tuesday by the Teamsters, Recycling Works, the BlueGreen Alliance, and GAIA, said that a national recycling rate of 75% would create 1.5 million new jobs. Producer Responsibility is one of the strategies mentioned in the report to achieve the high recycling rate.

The new bill would allow the electronics industries to utilize existing municipal recycling programs to fulfill their obligations, but they would assume all costs for recycling the products that are covered under the law.

The electronics producer responsibility bill is sponsored by Environment Committee Chair Senator Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton), and is expected to move next to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.  The Committee is co-chaired by Representative Anne Gobi (D-Spencer).  

“MAPSC appreciates the leadership of Chairman Pacheco and Chairwoman Gobi, and looks forward to working with them to bring this bill to the finish line,” said Narkewicz.

Pictured at the Statehouse in May is a group of municipal representatives from the Massachusetts Product Stewardship Council. Left to right: David Lutes, Somerville; Courtney Forrester, Newton; David Narkewicz, Northampton; Rory Casey, Holyoke; and Launa Zimmaro, Carlisle.