State E-waste Network to Expand
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports that Minnesota lawmakers are on the verge of passing an e-waste bill that would establish a statewide system to collect and recycle TVs, computer monitors and similar items. Last year, that state´s legislature passed a law prohibiting the disposal of those types of devices in the trash.

So far, four states have enacted e-waste recycling systems: California, Maine, Maryland and Washington. Six other states have imposed bans on the disposal of electronic equipment in the trash.

Minnesota´s proposal puts a heavy onus on manufacturers. Too heavy, says Hewlett-Packard. According to the Pioneer Press story, HP put out a statement saying the proposal "creates an unattainable allocation of responsibility to the manufacturer" and that it "will fail to achieve Minnesota´s recycling goals in an efficient manner."

The Minnesota law would require electronics makers to pay the state a flat registration fee of $5,000 for the first year and $2,500 annually thereafter. On top of that, those manufacturers would have to pay 50 cents per pound for the weight of the devices they sell in excess of the weight of the devices they collect and recycle.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Times reports that Oregon´s legislature is also considering an e-waste proposal.

And lastly but not leastly, here is a progress report on Maine´s e-waste recycling system, from the Central Maine Morning Sentinel.

Green Dreams are Made of This
Songwriter, music producer and former Eurythmic Dave Stewart is making a bid to join the Tinseltown green superstar cavalcade. TV Guide reports that Stewart is collaborating with Greenpeace to think-tank up some new ways for Hollywood to promote environmental causes.

Stewart describes the partnership thus: "If you can imagine Andy Warhol´s Factory with Greenpeace in it and me in it. It´s a hot house, a think tank."

I think we can all imagine that. I mean, really, who am I to disagree? I travel the world and the seven seas; everybody´s looking for something.

 

Pete Fehrenbach is assistant managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.wastenews.com