Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003
Welcome to the E-Scrap News electronic newsletter
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NEPSI MOVES FORWARD (SOMEWHAT)
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Representatives of industry, government and nonprofit organizations met
in Seattle last week to work on developing an agreement for a nationwide
electronics recycling system. Progress was made, but negotiations
continue.
negotiating panel. While there's broad consensus on the materials to be
recovered under a national system, full support of a funding system has
not been attained. At the latest confab, a new financing proposal was
offered. Under this proposal, the original equipment manufacturers would
internalize the cost of recycling into their operations, while new equipment
buyers would be charged a small advanced recycling fee (ARF). These funds
would flow back to local governments to pay for collection efforts. This
idea failed to capture support.
In the beginning, the recycling system would be financed by an ARF, which
would eventually move to a cost internalization system where manufacturers
would take over. This model, however, did not garner the vote of some
important participants, including representatives of Hewlett-Packard (Palo
Alto, California), Dell (Round Rock, Texas), the Silicon Valley Toxics
Coalition (San Jose, California), the State of California and a trade group
representing smaller computer producers.
especially because they represent about 60 percent of the computer sales
market. However, several NEPSI participants suggest that the rising frustration
among some environmental groups over the results may lead to them abandoning
the talks. Environmental groups involved in NEPSI generally support a
full producer-responsibility system such as being implemented in Europe.