Shapiro Pessimistic On Chances for National E-Waste Recycling Law
Recent election results don’t bode well for the CE industry’s goal of a national e-waste recycling law, CEA president Gary Shapiro told journalists at the annual CES Press Preview event in New York Tuesday. Shapiro said Republican support for states’ rights “and a lot of talk among newly elected people and some of the old ones who are listening to the tea party” movement indicate that “unless there’s a Constitutional justification,” there’s not going to be a national recycling effort in the near future.
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Some of the arguments against national recycling laws center on interstate commerce, Shapiro said, and others are philosophical. Many Republicans believe states should decide their own regulations regarding recycling, he said, which is in opposition to CEA’s view that a national law should be enacted because CE products are distributed nationally. “We are anathema to anything that is localized to one state,” Shapiro said. “We hate it” when one state like California establishes its own rules for TV operation, he said, because every state could take such a stance requiring manufacturers to build TVs to its requirements. “Then prices would go up, we'd lose economies of scale and it would not be good,” he said. But getting a national recycling standard through Congress now “would be problematic,” he said, “unless we hit a home run and are in agreement with every interested party.” Citing manufacturers, retailers, environmental groups and consumer groups, he said, “Getting that many people to agree to anything is a challenge."
In response to a question about California energy regulations for TVs due to take effect next year, Shapiro said CEA has begun steps to challenge the legislation by petitioning California regulatory bodies to justify paperwork, which he said was “the first step in a legislative challenge.” While laws are “still bad,” he said they were mitigated by less strict labeling requirements for TVs. Shapiro said the Federal Trade Commission should be the body proposing such matters rather than states, and said California is the only state with an oversight board for regulating electricity use. “Maybe when Governor-elect Brown looks at where there can be cost-savings, that’s where he'll look,” Shapiro said.
As a result of the California regulations, Shapiro said, there are TVs that will be sold in Nevada, Oregon and Washington that won’t be sold in California. “I'm sure Randy Fry (CEO of Fry Electronics) doesn’t like that people will be able to go online and buy TVs that won’t be offered for sale in Fry stores in California,” he said. “It’s bad public policy.”