Hawaii is implementing one of the most ambitious electronic waste recycling plans in the country, but some Hawaii retailers are afraid it will mean higher prices and less selection. Ironically, Hawaii has no ability to recycle electronic devices. Instead, the material has to be collected and shipped to processing centers elsewhere. The goal of the new law is to have manufacturers collect and ship out more and more of the used-up products.
But industry lobbyist Walter Alcorn, with the Consumer Technology Association, said the law sets goals that cannot be met. “On the industry side, it’s been a scramble.” Alcorn said. “Particularly for the computer and printer manufacturers that previously did not have to have this type of a program.”
State Rep. Nicole Lowen, chair of the Energy and Environmental Protection Committee, was among the lead advocates for the law. She said putting the full responsibility on the manufacturers will incentivize them to pay more attention to the waste their industry is generating. “We are pushing them to rethink the design packaging, distribution systems of their products and create more efficiency, for the reuse and recycling of those products or the materials that they contain,” Lowen said.
The law required 49 manufacturers, from Apple to Samsung, to report how much product has been shipped in by weight and how they would set up systems to collect discarded devices and ship them to recycling locations.