California Senate Bill 20/50

On September 28, 2004, California aggressively established itself as an e-waste recycling pioneer by proactively addressing the pending e-waste tsunami and implementing landmark recycling legislation that provides relief to the costs associated with recycling e-waste.

This legislation was the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003, Senate Bill 20/50 (SB20/50), which took January 1, 2005. SB20/50 essentially amended SB20 by implementing a consumer funded Advanced Recycling Fee (ARF) assessed at the point of purchasing all Covered Electronic Waste.

As defined, CEW is any display device containing CRT's, LCD monitors and LCD televisions that are larger than 4" in diagonal. Beginning July 1, 2005, LCD and plasma televisions will be added as new CEW under the SB20/50 recycling act. Electronic Recyclers International™ (ERI) has already been approved to recycle these products. Under SB20/50 these ARF's issued on all CEW range from $6 to $10 and are determined using the following scale.

• $6 per device with a screen size between 4"-15"
• $8 per device with a screen size between 16"-35"
• $10 per device with a screen size greater than 35"