Changes to the electronic waste recycling program and granting rule-making authority. (FE)

The bill expands the definition of a school, for purposes of the program, to include all public elementary or secondary schools, including charter schools; all private elementary or secondary schools; and all tribal schools. The bill also narrows the types of consumer printers that are covered under the program.

Under current law, a manufacturer in the program must ordinarily pay a registration fee with its annual registration, based on the number of electronic devices it sold in the state during the previous year. The bill raises the threshold for requiring a manufacturer to pay a registration fee. Under the bill, a manufacturer's registration fee is $5,000 if it sold at least 500 electronic devices in this state during the previous program year, and $1,250 if it sold at least 250 but fewer than 500 electronic devices. There is no registration fee if the manufacturer sold fewer than 250 electronic devices during the previous program year.

Under current law, a manufacturer must report certain information to DNR when it submits its annual registration under the program. This bill requires manufacturers, when reporting the total weight of electronic devices recycled by or on behalf of the manufacturer each year, to also report the weight of devices collected from rural counties separately from devices collected from urban counties.

Under current law, every year a registered recycler must report to DNR the total weight of electronic devices the recycler received from a registered manufacturer for recycling during the previous program year. This bill requires a recycler, in its annual report, to also separate this total weight into different categories, depending on the type of device and whether the device contains a cathode-ray tube. The bill also requires a recycler to report the weight of certain materials, such as cathode-ray tube glass, metals, and plastics, that the recycler derived from the electronic devices it received during the previous program year.

Finally, under current law, a program year runs from July 1 to the following June 30. This bill creates an 18-month transition period (transition year) that runs from the July 1 following the effective date of the bill to the December 31 of the following year. After the transition year, a program year runs from January 1 to December 31.