Recently, the California Integrated Waste Management Board moved to address fund solvency in the SB20/SB50 legislation that is designed to provide a FREE and CONVENIENT solution for end-of-life recycling of televisions and computer monitors used in California.
The "pay as you go" program set up in 2003 was designed to collect an Advance Recovery Fee from consumers at the point of purchase in the amount of $6, $8, or $10 (depending on the size of the monitor) and use it to cover the costs of FREE and proper disposal at the end of the TV's life.
After a required review of the program, the CIWMB staff realized that it was collecting, on average, $8 per unit at the point of sale and then paying recyclers, on average, $22 per unit to recycle the unit. To maintain the solvency of the fund, starting January 1, 2009 consumers will pay $8, $16, and $25 with the hopes that the average per-unit income to the fund will be $15.
My strongest advice to consumers who are purchasing new televisions or computer monitors in 2009 (or even today at the old, lower rate) is get what you paid for. The $8, $16, or whopping $25 you might pay at the point of purchase is designed to make sure that you can dispose of that monitor for FREE when you are done with it. Not only are there are lot of places you can take your e-waste for free, there are several that will make sure that it gets disposed of properly and that (in the case of computers and hard disks) that all of your data is securely destroyed.
Our GREENetwork now has 100 free drop-off locations (GREENspots) in Northern California — 95% of all households don't have to drive more than 10 miles to find their local GREENspot. All the material you drop off at a GREENspot will be sent to ASL Recycling, where it will be completely dismantled, all hard drives will be crushed and destroyed, and all materials will be sent to sound downstream sources.
To find your GREENspot go to www.aslgreenspot.com.
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