California's Electronic Waste Recycling Act!!!...Huh?

[Mike n NC]

You are getting into one of my fields now. Lead is just plain, downright nasty stuff. It leeches into the groundwater from dump and waste sites sure...did you also know that it leeches into the water system from paint (pre 1978), oxidation on lead and pewter building decorations and lead roofing components...including stained glass? It was removed from plumbing flux and solder for a reason; it won’t stay where you put it. It is also released into the air we breathe from being oxidized then disturbed or impacted.
Exposure to lead in water, airborne dust and the like is a problem for all but especially hard on children and pregnant women, they absorb about twice as much as the rest of us. Elderly are also at risk due to their weakened ability to fight the effects of the exposure. Effects are much the same as consuming small amounts of arsenic over an extended period of time. Think heavy metal poisoning by an element that will never leave the body but by chemical chelating. Not a pleasant, or for that matter very effective process.

I don’t know about CA but like most states are doing, I am sure lead and battery disposal must now be in sealed, leech free waste sites.

All this and I ain't even a tree hugger!!

Mike

[bubba]

Well, you do know that plumbing contributed to the fall of Rome. Roman pipes were lead as were the linings of the aquaducts.

[Iolaus]

I'm not concerned with whether or not the stuff is hazardous. I just don't like more government in my pocketbook.

I did some reading of the bills that enacted all this, and found a couple of interesting tidbits.

First, on the matter of the fees going into the general fund. Theoretically, the fees go into a seperate account, but look at this excerpt:

(4) Under existing law, the Electronic Waste Recovery and
Recycling Account is created in the Integrated Waste Management Fund
and the board and the department are authorized to expend the moneys
deposited in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for
specified purposes.
This bill would continuously appropriate the money in the account
to pay refunds and make electronic waste recovery payments and
recycling payments. The bill would additionally continuously
appropriate the money to make specified payments to manufacturers.
The bill would authorize the money in the account to be expended,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the other specified
purposes.
The bill would establish the Electronic Waste Penalty Subaccount
in the account, would require all fines or penalties collected
pursuant to the act to be deposited in the subaccount, and would
authorize the expenditure of the funds in the subaccount only upon
appropriation by the Legislature.

Notice that the first two paragraphs say the appropriations will be used for "specified puposes", but the third paragraph, concerning all fines or penalties, doesn't. Does that mean it's subject to any appropriation the legislature decides pull it for?


Another, more bothersome detail was in the other bill. Check out this excerpt:

The bill would require the department to adopt
regulations to prohibit an electronic device from being sold or
offered for sale in this state if the electronic device is prohibited
from being sold in the European Union on and after its date of
manufacture, due to the presence of certain heavy metals. The bill
would prohibit these regulations from taking effect until January 1,
2007, or on or after the date the Directive 2002/95/EC, as adopted by
the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on
January 27, 2003, takes effect, whichever date is later. The bill
would require the department to exclude certain electronic devices
from the regulations and would prohibit the department from requiring
the manufacture or sale of an electronic device that is different
than, or not otherwise prohibited by, the European Union, thereby
imposing a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. The
bill would also incorporate the provisions of the Electronic Waste
Recycling Act of 2003, as specified below, by reference into the
hazardous waste control laws.

Since when did we start letting the EU set the restrictions for our domestic sales?

[minimalistix]

While were on the topic, the Superfund program is 'great' program...if you're a lawyer that is. ;-)

Have a feeling that tax will go down a similar road.

[millar]

Taxes are collected for the common good. I enjoy having roads, safe water, police, hospitals, public transportation, parks, border guards, prisons, radio, tv, trash collection, firefighters, safety inspectors.... Taxes are not the evil things that some would have you believe, you just have to sit back and figure out what you are getting for your money and realize that you are probably getting off pretty cheaply.

[Iolaus]

Until we have a flat tax, so that everyone pays their share, and until all pork-barrel projects are done away with (along with about a thousand other issues the U.S. goverment supports, like the National Endowment for the Arts), I will continue to believe that taxes are the evil things that some would have you believe. There are too many people "getting off pretty cheaply" on someone else's dime.

[Mike n NC]

Taxes are collected for the common good. I enjoy having roads, safe water, police, hospitals, public transportation, parks, border guards, prisons, radio, tv, trash collection, firefighters, safety inspectors.... Taxes are not the evil things that some would have you believe, you just have to sit back and figure out what you are getting for your money and realize that you are probably getting off pretty cheaply.

Personally I think we're getting cheap product for a whole lot of money!

Ok, I'll bring this back to address the tax and not the cause. I firmly agree with Iolaus, the hand is way too deep in our pocket yet they keep looking for more ways to get deeper. Here in NC they aren't called taxes, they're fees but thy still take money out of our pockets.

And yes, it reads like all that money is at the disposal (whim) of the legislature.

Mike

[auld argonian]

And I'm going to take advantage of this discussion to act in my capacity as a Macintosh Evangelist.

I can usually get AT LEAST five years of service out of a Mac without upgrading much more than the operating system. One of the criticisms of Macintosh has always been the "high price" of it's units (but I didn't hear a whole lot of people bitching about the price of iPods, did you?). As I've often said, I can wring five or six years out of a Mad while my buddies may have gone through two or three Windows machines during the same period. So there's an economy that applies not only to the purchase of the unit but also in how many show up in the landfill.

Of course, there are Mac people who just run out and buy every new Mac that comes out because they can achieve a whole .25 Meg increase in processor speed by spending another $2500...but, frankly, what's the point unless you're Pixar?

Best

AA

[Valencian Kilted]

well, I don't know how social security works in USA, but here in Europe we are quite used to "suffer" all kinds of taxes. As far as I know, in the states you need to have a private health assurance to be well treated at a hospital, but here we pay our taxes and we receive all kinds of treatments by the govt. health service, and if you are working, so it means that part of your wage is retained for taxing, you don't have to pay to the hospital after, for example, a lung's transplant, or a cancer treatment of chemiotherapy, or a simple operation to bring a new child to life (Epidural anesthesia included for women). Everything is included and payed in our taxes. Of course, it's not always as good as we want, and surely it will never be, because as much as you got, as much as you ask, but,... we can discuss over the destiny of ALL our payed money, but we know that we have services at roads, army, healthcare, schools, transport, police, justice, administration,etc,...

They take a 11% of my monthly incoming as a direct tax that covers part of the public services. The other part comes from indirect taxes, over cigarettes, alcohol, petrol, etc,... or simply by the V.A.T. that is included on any product you buy in the E.U.

And related to the fact that California decided to be submitted to the european parliament rules, I can tell to you that if you are going to sell your products here, you must accomplish with our requirements in terms of quality, safety, etc,... just as well as we must do if we want to sell you any of our products. Don't you think it's fair? Anyway, this kind of "weapon" has been used at both sides of the atlantic many times!!

¡Salud!

T O N O

[Iolaus]

And related to the fact that California decided to be submitted to the european parliament rules, I can tell to you that if you are going to sell your products here, you must accomplish with our requirements in terms of quality, safety, etc,... just as well as we must do if we want to sell you any of our products. Don't you think it's fair? Anyway, this kind of "weapon" has been used at both sides of the atlantic many times!!

I understand that, and yes, it's fair. What I'm objecting to is basing our restrictions on what can be sold here on what the EU says can be sold there. That means the EU controls what we can purchase in our own country.