Read the full article at the Springfield Journal Register.

Public Act 97-0287 bans 17 electronic products from landfills. The landfill ban includes: TVs, computers (including desktop, notebook, tablet), monitors, printers, computer peripherals, VCRs/DVD players, gaming systems, MP3 players, scanners, fax machines and small scale servers. These products contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium and beryllium that must be properly managed to prevent soil and groundwater contamination.

Illinois Senator Susan Garrett and Representative Daniel Biss sponsored the Electronic Products Recycling and Reuse Act that requires manufacturers to take responsibility for recycling obsolete residential electronic products. Obsolete electronic products also contain valuable materials that can be recycled for reuse such as copper, gold and circuit chips. The law requires electronics manufacturers to set up a take-back program for used electronics or partner with local recyclers to offer residents a free electronics recycling program at venues close to home.

“The residential electronic recycling program keeps toxic chemicals out of our soil and water, creates new jobs for the state’s recycling industry, and makes recycling easy for consumers without any additional costs,” said Melville Nickerson, Staff Attorney at ELPC, which advised on policy and built support for the legislation. “Illinois is one of 25 states that has passed legislation to solve the problem of discarded electronics, the fastest growing element of our country’s municipal waste stream.”

The Electronic Products Recycling and Reuse Act culminates years of work by Senator Garrett, Representative Dan Biss, ELPC and other business and environmental organizations to address the growing problem of obsolete electronics. According to the US EPA, Americans throw away 400 million electronic products each year.

For more information in the landfill ban and the free residential recycling program visit http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/electronic-waste-recycling/consumer-education.html

Read ELPC’s Executive Summary of SB 2106

Read the Chicago Tribune article here.

Without this act, old thermostats would end up in landfills where toxic mercury would be released into soil and groundwater.   The legislation works with manufacturers to deal with the end life of their products, reduce waste and protect public health.

As ELPC Policy Advocate Mel Nickerson told the Illinois Times, “This is a common sense approach to keep toxins out of our soil and water. It’s a bill that environmentalists, manufacturers and the entire General Assembly could agree on.”

Read the full article here.

“The good news is that consumers are taking environmental performance into account when making buying decisions,” said Howard Learner, executive director of the Chicago-based Environmental Law and Policy Center, which is starting to look at which wireless service providers might be truly green. “But if people pay good green dollars to get green performance, the environmental results should justify the investment.”

Read the full article.

“This is a common sense approach to keep toxins out of our soil and water,” said Melville Nickerson, Policy Advocate for the Environmental Law & Policy Center, a group that helped to draft the bill. “It’s a bill that environmentalists, manufacturers and the entire General Assembly could agree on.”

“We know the dangers that mercury poses to public health, especially for mothers and young children,” Said Representative Karen May, the bill’s House sponsor. “This bill makes Illinois a healthier place to live.”

“We’re working with manufacturers to keep our land and water safe and conserve our resources for future generations,” said Senator Heather Steans, Senate Sponsor of SB 3346. “This is a policy that Illinois should be proud of.”

“Illinois has passed a significant piece of legislation that holds manufacturers accountable for reducing the environmental impacts of their products,” said Scott Cassel, Executive Director of the Product Stewardship Institute. “Product stewardship laws like these are sweeping the country, and Illinois is a national leader.

The Mercury Thermostat Collection Act requires thermostat manufacturers to establish an out-of-service mercury thermostat collection program and to meet ambitious goals to collect and safely dispose of unwanted mercury thermostats. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) will monitor the collection programs.

The bill adopts the recommendations of a report Turning Up the Heat on Thermostats written by the Environmental Law & Policy Center and the Mercury Products Campaign.

Illinois’ Mercury Thermostat Collection Act is based on model state legislation developed by the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) with input from thermostat manufacturers, heating and cooling contractors and wholesalers, retailers, environmental groups, and government officials. PSI’s model shares responsibility for safe thermostat recycling among all these groups and provides a menu of options from which states can choose. Illinois is the eighth state to pass legislation based on the model.

Wisconsin’s e-waste bill ensures that dangerous electronic products are recycled, rather than tossed into landfills where valuable components are wasted and toxic chemicals contaminate our soil and water.  Through meetings with legislators, op-eds and letters and calls from our supporters in Wisconsin, ELPC helped pass this important legislation that will protect public health and create jobs in Wisconsin.

Read coverage here

ELPC helped create Illinois’ e-waste recycling bill and advised on policy and built support for Wisconsin’s legislation.

“Electronic waste is the fastest growing toxic segment of the solid waste stream, and this Wisconsin legislation is part of the solution,” said ELPC Executive Director Howard Learner. “This legislation helps solve our e-waste problems, creates jobs and makes recycling easier for residents. It’s a win-win-win for Wisconsin.”

Read ELPC’s press release here