Electronic Waste (E-Waste)

The pending legislation introduced this year ranges from general e-waste bans in

Arkansas , Nevada , New York and North Carolina to specific bans of cathode ray tubes in Hawaii and Michigan . These bills are just one piece of the puzzle of how to manage the end-of-life of electronics Ominously , much of U .S . e-waste is winding up in China or in other nations where impoverished residents disassemble them for parts - often without protecting themselves or the environment . Wisconsin representative Mark Miller who has sponsored legislation to require manufacturers to oversee the recycling

of their products , says he thinks a landfill ban can backfire . He states "I specifically did not go with a landfill ban . You end up collecting all the junk , sending it to China and causing tremendous environmental harm where it is taken apart Economically speaking , exporting the waste to nations with lax regulations is dramatically cheaper than recycling the waste in the United States and this serves as a natural economic incentive to export these wastes . However , the exportation of e-waste from industrialized nations to underdeveloped nations where the waste poses serious health threats to men , women , and especially children . And in the absence of regulation to the contrary , this practice will undoubtedly continue (Hosanky , 2004

Recent action in the Maryland General Assembly puts the state on par with California and Maine in passing comprehensive e-waste legislation The legislature passed a law that establishes a statewide computer recycling program structured to encourage manufacturers to design for easy disassembly and recycling . According to Delegate Dan Morhaim , who sponsored the bill "What we 're doing is asking computer designers to use their brilliance up front to plan for the full life cycle of their products (Spielvogel , 2005 . However , this alternative also has various shortcomings . For example , California 's Act requires manufacturers...