Council Scraps Part of Electronic Waste Recycling Bill

Facing a veto threat from Mayor Bloomberg on an electronic waste recycling bill, the City Council is removing part of the bill that would require manufacturers to collect for recycling a portion of the electronic goods they sell in the city or face fines. While Bloomberg is generally in favor of the recycling bill, he contends the provision places an unfair burden on manufacturers.

New Yorkers generate approximately 25,000 tons of discarded electronics every year. The waste either ends up in landfills, where it oozes toxic waste like lead, mercury, and arsenic, or it gets incinerated, which yields mercury, dioxin and other toxic emissions. The new law would impose $100 fines on city residents who throw electronics in the garbage, starting in 2010. And businesses would also be subject to fines if they fail to recycle their electronics.

The Council will try to tackle manufacturers with a separate bill, which will require manufacturers who sell their products in New York City to them back for recycling at no charge to consumers. The standards would take effect 2012, and manufactures would have to set a goal for what percentage of their product they’ll recycle each year and face fines in the neighborhood of $50,000 for non-compliance.

As it stands now, the Department of Sanitation holds two electronic recycling events per year in each borough, and the first one is this Sunday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the southeast corner of 17th St. and Union Square West. Clothing donations will also be accepted.