Illinois hikes mandated e-waste recycling targets for manufacturers

CHICAGO (Scrap Monster): Illinois recently passed a legislation that increases the volume of electronic waste that manufacturers must recycle. Consequently, manufacturers will have to pay more for recycling. The bill is likely to address the issue of growing e-waste in Illinois. The House Bill HB1455 hikes the recycling requirement for electronics manufacturers by nearly 13 million pounds over the next three years. The bill has already been approved by both houses of the legislature and is currently awaiting Governor’s signature.

Last year, many recycling centres across the state had stopped accepting electronic waste, due to non-payment from manufacturers upon hitting state-mandated recycling targets. The proposals put forward in the new bill is expected to get recycling centres accept electronic waste again, and thereby prevent electronic items from going to landfills.

For this year, the bill proposes a total annual recycling goal of 30.8 million pounds for manufacturers of televisions and computer monitors. The manufacturers of other electronic devices will have an annual recycling goal of 15.8 million pounds. For 2016 and 2017, the manufacturers of televisions and computer monitors will have a recycling goal of 34.0 million pounds. The recycling goal set for manufacturers of other electronic devices is 15.6 million pounds.

The Illinois House and Senate had passed the bill unanimously. The Governor is expected to sign the bill soon. However, experts consider the bill only as a temporary solution to the growing e-waste problem in the state. The legislation will again come up for review after two years, they said.