New year to ring in electronics recycling fee

"This is the only fee of its kind in the country," Peck said.

The fee is $6 for laptop computers and those television sets with screens measuring 4 to 15 inches, diagonally. The fee rises to $8 for screens ranging from 15 to 35 inches, and to $10 for screens larger than 35 inches.

When it comes to televisions, only those with cathode-ray tubes will be affected initially. On July 1, fees will be extended to liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma sets, Peck said.

Unlike the soda-bottle recycling fee, this new electronic charge won't be something consumers can retrieve by exercising good citizenship and taking old TVs and computers to recycling centers.

"It is not a deposit," Peck said. "It is an advanced recycling fee. In that sense, it is more like the tire recycling fee, which is $1 per tire."

Rather, he said, the fee is designed to encourage more recycling of electronics by helping to defray a portion of collectors' and recyclers' costs of dismantling equipment for reuse. As a result, more cities, counties and waste haulers are expected to offer programs to their customers for turning in old TVs and computers.

Fully intact, the video monitors generally do not pose a threat to the environment. But when crushed for disposal, electronic parts release poisonous lead and mercury that can foul underground water, Peck said.

"We don't want that to happen," he said. "We want the stuff to be taken apart properly, in a way that it can be reused. So California has set up an aggressive system to try to keep them out of landfills."

Other states are expected to follow California's lead.

"Once again, California is setting a new standard for environmental protection," said Rosario Marin, chairwoman of the state Integrated Waste Management Board. "This new program provides an economic stimulus that will enhance the safe recovery and recycling of obsolete electronics in the state and, at the same time, encourages manufacturers to be mindful of the environment in their product designs."

The fee program follows the August 2003 decision of the state Department of Toxic Substance Control to declare electronics equipment hazardous waste and ban its disposal in regular landfills. Authorities fear that, in the year and a half since that declaration, illegal dumping of televisions and computers has been rising, though Peck said the state had no hard statistics confirming that suspicion.

"We've certainly seen anecdotal evidence of that," he said.

At the same time, authorities say they know there are a lot of old television sets and computers clogging garages and closets.

"It's not the kind of thing that you just throw out, but it's also not the kind of thing that's going to work better if you just plug it in two years later," Peck said.

Peck cited a 3-year-old study that suggested there were more than 6 million such unused electronic appliances being stored statewide. And the total is believed to be much larger now, as more and more families buy computers for their homes and replace traditional cathode-ray-tube TVs with flat-panel models, whose popularity is soaring.

The new state law, known formerly as the Electronic Waste Recycling Act, was authored by Sen. Byron Sher, D-Palo Alto. It was originally passed in 2003 and amended this year, and it takes effect Saturday.