Electronic waste bill amended in Senate

OLYMPIA — A watered-down version of an electronic waste management House bill has passed the state Senate.

"A step in the right direction, but certainly this is not an end in itself," summed up Jeff Kelley-Clarke of the Snohomish County Solid Waste Division.

House Bill 2488 responds to the increasing amount of toxic waste left behind by discarded electronic products.

As initially proposed, the bill — sponsored by Rep. Mike Cooper, D-Edmonds — would have required manufacturers of electronic devices sold in Washington to charge a $5 fee for recycling purposes.

Although the bill passed the Senate unanimously, it was only after the bill’s regulatory meat was scrapped in favor of reports on existing programs.

What ended up was a highly amended bill that directs the state Department of Ecology to review programs and draft two reports that offer financing and implementation recommendations for the statewide management of electronic waste. The amendment was advocated by the Association of Washington Business.

Cooper described the move toward reports instead of restrictions as an attempt to drag out progress of electronic waste management.

The bill underwent an extreme makeover in the Senate, as opponents, including Hewlett-Packard Co., deemed the bill a costly overreaction to a problem that may not even exist.

Still, proponents are grateful for the bill’s passage, but say the fight is not over between waste management groups and business interests.

The newly amended bill will be resubmitted to the House for approval, where Cooper expects it to be approved.

Ultimately, Kelley-Clarke would like to see a national program to address electronic waste.

"What I do with a computer at the end of its life should have nothing to do with the state where I bought it," Kelley-Clarke said.

More than 500 million computers will be rendered obsolete by 2007, resulting in 6.32 billion pounds of plastic and 1.58 billion pounds of lead, according the National Safety Council.