Bill Text: NY A04500 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the public education and outreach program required to be developed by manufacturers of electronics and electronic waste collection sites.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to environmental conservation [A04500 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A04500-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4500

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    February 4, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. HUNTER, GRIFFIN -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Environmental Conservation

        AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to recy-
          cling of electronic products

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.   Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 27-2605 of the
     2  environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 99 of  the  laws  of
     3  2010, is amended to read as follows:
     4    (d) a general description of the manner in which the manufacturer will
     5  comply  with  section 27-2603 of this title, including specific informa-
     6  tion on the manufacturer's electronic waste acceptance  program  in  the
     7  state,  [and] a current list of locations within the state where consum-
     8  ers may return electronic waste, and a description of the public  educa-
     9  tion  and outreach program required by paragraph (c) of subdivision five
    10  of this section;
    11    § 2. Paragraphs (a) and (c) of subdivision 5 of section 27-2605 of the
    12  environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 99 of  the  laws  of
    13  2010, are amended to read as follows:
    14    (a)  collection,  handling  and recycling or reuse of electronic waste
    15  pursuant to section 27-2603 of this title  in  a  manner  convenient  to
    16  consumers. [The following acceptance methods shall be considered reason-
    17  ably  convenient: (i) mail or ship back return programs; (ii) collection
    18  or acceptance events conducted by the manufacturer or the manufacturer's
    19  agent or designee, including events conducted through local  governments
    20  or  private  parties; (iii) fixed acceptance locations such as dedicated
    21  acceptance sites operated by the manufacturer or its agent or  designee;
    22  (iv) agreements with local governments, retail stores, sales outlets and
    23  not-for-profit organizations which have agreed to provide facilities for
    24  the collection of electronic waste; (v) community collection events; and
    25  (vi)  any  combination of these or other acceptance methods which effec-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01223-01-1
        A. 4500                             2

     1  tively provide for the acceptance of electronic waste for  recycling  or
     2  reuse  through  means  that  are  available and reasonably convenient to
     3  consumers in the state. At a minimum, the manufacturer shall ensure that
     4  all  counties  of  the  state, and all municipalities which have a popu-
     5  lation of ten thousand or greater, have at least one method  of  accept-
     6  ance  that  is available within such county or municipality. The depart-
     7  ment  may  establish  additional  requirements  to   ensure   convenient
     8  collection  from  consumers]  To meet minimum collection requirements, a
     9  manufacturer or the manufacturer's agent or designee shall use geograph-
    10  ic modeling to determine the number and distribution of permanent  sites
    11  to  be  operated  by  the  manufacturer  or  its  agent  or designee for
    12  collection of covered electronic equipment based on the following crite-
    13  ria: (i) at least ninety percent of New  York  residents  shall  have  a
    14  collection  site  within  a fifteen mile radius of their principal resi-
    15  dence; and (ii) one additional permanent collection site will be  estab-
    16  lished  for  every  fifty  thousand  residents  of an urbanized area (as
    17  defined by the United States Census Bureau).
    18    In addition, a manufacturer or its agent or its designee, shall ensure
    19  that: (i) in counties with populations between sixty-five  thousand  and
    20  three  hundred thousand people, there shall be no less than three perma-
    21  nent collection locations for collection of  covered  electronic  equip-
    22  ment;  and  (ii)  in counties with less than sixty-five thousand people,
    23  there shall be, at a minimum, three community collection  or  acceptance
    24  events  conducted on an annual basis by the manufacturer or the manufac-
    25  turer's agent or designee, or on behalf of the manufacturer or its agent
    26  or designee by a local government or private  party.  The  schedule  for
    27  such  collection  events  shall  be  made  available  to  the public and
    28  provided to the department on or before the first day of January of each
    29  year.
    30    Permanent collection locations may be operated by the manufacturer  or
    31  its  agent  or  designee,  or by local governments, retail stores, sales
    32  outlets, and not-for-profit organizations which  have  agreed  with  the
    33  manufacturer  or  its  agent  or  designee to provide facilities for the
    34  collection of electronic waste.
    35    Nothing in this section shall prohibit a county or solid waste author-
    36  ity, at its discretion, to establish a  permanent  collection  site  for
    37  electronic waste to meet the convenience standard, and the manufacturer,
    38  or  its agent or designee, shall accept all covered electronic equipment
    39  so collected at no cost to the municipality, and shall reimburse to  the
    40  municipality  the  reasonable costs of preparing the collected equipment
    41  for shipment.
    42    A manufacturer may participate with other manufacturers in  a  collec-
    43  tive  electronic  waste  acceptance  program  to achieve the convenience
    44  standard established herein;
    45    (c) a public education and  outreach  program,  developed  in  collab-
    46  oration  with the manufacturer and the operator of each electronic waste
    47  collection site where the manufacturer's covered electronic equipment is
    48  collected, to inform consumers about the manufacturer's electronic waste
    49  acceptance program, including at a minimum one or more of the following:
    50  (i) an internet website and a toll-free telephone number provided by the
    51  manufacturer and written information included in the product manual for,
    52  or at the time of sale of, covered electronic  equipment  that  provides
    53  sufficient  information to allow a consumer of covered electronic equip-
    54  ment to learn how to return  the  covered  equipment  for  recycling  or
    55  reuse,  and  in  the case of manufacturers of computers, hard drives and
    56  other covered electronic equipment that have internal  memory  on  which
        A. 4500                             3

     1  personal  or  other  confidential data can be stored, such website shall
     2  provide instructions for how consumers  can  destroy  such  data  before
     3  surrendering  the  products  for recycling or reuse; (ii) advertisements
     4  and  press releases [if any]; and (iii) post-purchase electronic notifi-
     5  cation from the manufacturer to consumers; and
     6    § 3. Subdivision 8 of section 27-2605 of the  environmental  conserva-
     7  tion law, as added by chapter 99 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read
     8  as follows:
     9    8.  A  manufacturer shall be responsible for all costs associated with
    10  the implementation of the electronic waste acceptance program, including
    11  but not limited to all costs of collection, transportation and recycling
    12  of covered electronic equipment.  A manufacturer shall continue to cover
    13  the full costs of collection, transportation and  recycling  of  covered
    14  electronic equipment, and its collection responsibilities under subdivi-
    15  sion  one  of  this  section  shall  continue, regardless of whether the
    16  acceptance standard in subdivision four of section 27-2603 of this arti-
    17  cle is achieved for the year.  The manufacturer or its agent  shall  not
    18  charge  consumers,  municipalities  or electronic waste collection sites
    19  for the collection, handling  and  recycling  and  reuse  of  electronic
    20  waste,  provided  that  such  prohibition shall not apply to a charge on
    21  business consumers or to charges for premium services. This  prohibition
    22  shall  not  apply  to  a manufacturer's contract with a consumer for the
    23  collection, handling, recycling or reuse of electronic  waste  that  was
    24  entered  into  prior to the effective date of this section. For purposes
    25  of this subdivision, "business consumer" means a for-profit entity which
    26  has fifty or more full time employees or  a  not-for-profit  corporation
    27  with  seventy-five or more full time employees, but not a not-for-profit
    28  corporation designated under section 501(c)(3) of the  internal  revenue
    29  code.  For purposes of this subdivision, "premium services" means equip-
    30  ment and data security services, refurbishment for reuse by the  consum-
    31  er, and other custom services as may be determined by the department.
    32    §  4. Section 27-2603 of the environmental conservation law is amended
    33  by adding a new subdivision 8 to read as follows:
    34    8. A person operating an electronic waste collection  site,  an  elec-
    35  tronic  waste  consolidation  facility  or an electronic waste recycling
    36  facility and having a reasonable ground to believe that  a  manufacturer
    37  has  failed  or is failing to cover all costs of collection, transporta-
    38  tion or recycling of  covered  electronic  equipment,  may  request  the
    39  department  to  investigate  such alleged failure and, upon a finding by
    40  the department that the manufacturer has failed or is failing  to  cover
    41  such  costs,  the  department  shall  order the manufacturer to pay such
    42  costs.
    43    § 5. Paragraphs (f) and (h) of subdivision 1 of section 27-2617 of the
    44  environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 99 of  the  laws  of
    45  2010, are amended to read as follows:
    46    (f)  the  names and locations of electronic waste recycling facilities
    47  utilized by the manufacturer and entities to which electronic  waste  is
    48  sent  for reuse, whether  such facilities or entities are located in the
    49  state or outside the state, including details on the methods of  recycl-
    50  ing  or  reuse of electronic waste, any disassembly or physical recovery
    51  operation used, and the environmental management measures implemented by
    52  [such] each recycling facility or entity identified by the  manufacturer
    53  under this paragraph;
    54    (h)  a  [brief] description of [its] the public education and outreach
    55  program required by paragraph (c) of subdivision five of section 27-2605
    56  of this title, including the number of visits to  the  internet  website
        A. 4500                             4

     1  and calls to the toll-free telephone number provided by the manufacturer
     2  [as  required  by  section  27-2605  of  this  title], copies of written
     3  notices, and number of post-purchase electronic  notifications  sent  to
     4  consumers;
     5    § 6. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
     6  it shall have become a law.