AB 958

This bill makes changes to the electronic waste recycling program, known as

E-Cycle Wisconsin, which is administered by the Department of Natural Resources.

Manufacturer target recycling weights

Under the existing program, a manufacturer may not sell certain consumer

electronic devices to households or covered schools in this state unless the

manufacturer registers with DNR each year, pays a registration fee, and either

recycles a certain amount of electronics or pays a shortfall fee. Currently, a

manufacturer's recycling target for any given year is 80 percent of the weight of

electronics that the manufacturer sold to households or covered schools in this state

during the year that began three years before the beginning of the year in which the

calculation is made.

Under the bill, DNR must calculate each manufacturer's target recycling

weight for the upcoming year and notify each manufacturer of its target by the

August 1 prior to the year in which the target will apply. Under the bill, DNR must

first determine a manufacturer's market share percentage by dividing the weight of

electronic devices the manufacturer sold to households or covered schools in this

state during the previous year (the year that began two years before the beginning

of the year in which the target recycling weight will apply) by the total weight of all

manufacturers' covered electronic devices sold to households or covered schools in

this state during the same program year. DNR then multiplies this percentage by

the total weight of electronic devices collected in this state by recyclers during the

previous year (the year that began two years before the beginning of the year in

which the target recycling weight will apply).

Manufacturer reporting

Currently, a manufacturer must annually report to DNR the total weight of all

of its electronic devices sold to households or covered schools in this state during the

year that began two years before the beginning of the year in which the report is

made. The bill changes this to require reporting of this weight from the previous

year.

Eligible electronic devices

Under current law, only eligible electronic devices that are collected by a

recycler may be counted towards a manufacturer's target recycling weight. “Eligible

electronic device” is defined to include devices such as consumer computers,

consumer video display devices, and peripherals. “Peripheral” is defined to mean

devices that are sold for external use with a consumer computer and that provide

input into or output from a consumer computer.

This bill changes the definition of a “peripheral” to include devices that are sold

for external use with a consumer video display device and that provide input into or

output from a consumer video display device. The bill therefore includes these

devices in the definition of “eligible electronic device.”