Dive Brief:
- The North Carolina Senate voted 30-15 Monday night in favor of a bill that would end the state's electronic recycling program, among other measures.
- A 2010 landfill ban on computers, TVs and other types of e-waste would be reversed and recycling programs would be eliminated.
- The bill now returns to the House of Representatives where its future is unknown.
Dive Insight:
Legislators have been discussing this idea throughout the spring in response to a downturn in the e-waste market that has made it hard to find recyclers who want the material.
The 2010 bill established a program that is funded by annual fees from manufacturers. Critics of the program argue that low demand for this material has now led to illegal dumping and say it should be suspended until the market turns around.
Other states have struggled with e-waste programs recently. West Virginia reversed a landfill ban on electronics in March, though left room for communities to enact bans if found to be cost-effective. Multiple counties in Illinois have also ended programs as the state looks for new ways to make the system work.
Recent reports have found that this situation won't get any simpler in the short term as consumption of electronic devices increases and they become more complicated to disassemble for recycling.
