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California Considers Cellular Telephone Take-Back Legislation – Cell Phone Recycling Act 2004April 9, 2004 USA - California - Product Take-BackLegislation is being considered in California that would establish a mandatory recycling program for cell phones and impose new material bans on such products. On February 20, 2004, California State Assembly Member Fran Pavley (D – Agoura Hills) (Coauthor: Assembly Member Kehoe) introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 2901. AB 2901 prohibits a cellular phone from being sold or offered for sale in California if the cellular telephone is prohibited from being sold in the European Union, on or after its date of manufacture, due to the presence of heavy metals. The prohibitions would take effect on January 1, 2007, or on the date the European Directive 2002/95/EC Restriction of Hazardous Substances (“RoHS”) takes effect, whichever is later.
AB 2901 also requires a retailer selling a cell phone in California to have in place, by July 1, 2005, a system to be approved by the Integrated Waste Management Board (“Board”), for the acceptable, collection, reuse, and recycling or proper disposal of used cell phones. AB 2901 requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control (“DTSC”) to establish regulations for the collection, reuse, recycling and disposal of cell phones and to adopt statewide goals for used cell phone recycling. AB 2901 would also impose civil and administrative penalties for violations of the proposed law.
The intent of AB 2901 is to have the costs associated with the handling, recycling, and disposal of used cell phones be the responsibility of the producers and consumers and not be incurred by local governments (or their service providers) at the point of discard. AB 2901 is modeled after the Electronics Waster Recycling Act of 2003 (i.e., SB 20.)
AB 2901 may be passed into law later this year, subject to amendments in response to recommendations from the cell phone industry lobby. AB 2901 carries strong support from consumer advocacy groups in part because, unlike SB 20, it does not carry a consumer recycling fee. On March 14, 2004, AB 2901 was approved (by a 7-2 vote) by the state Assembly Natural Resources Committee. The deadline for a floor approval in the Assembly and referral to the state Senate is May 28, 2004. Below is a summary of the key obligations and features of this proposed law, as written at the time of this report.
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