The CEA represents the CE industry and runs CES. The CE industry likes to make and ship thing but it doesn’t like to recycle them. Therefore, in the proud tradition of astroturfing, it’s fighting back against New York City Local Laws 13 and 21 of 2008 which, in a nutshell, says that all CE manufacturers must pick up and recycle broken or obsolete equipment.
Obviously CE manufacturers don’t want to roll trucks every time your monitor breaks. But New York is a CE town. Just look at our skyline – every single office in every single high-rise probably accounts for ten or twenty PCs, laptops, monitors, and other junk. Walk down the street in NYC and you’ll see dumpsters full of old CRTs and other junk that will, in due time, end up leaching all sorts of mess into our – and most probably your – landfills.
The CEA is saying that the new law will force “hundreds more trucks” and drive up pollution and traffic. It will also cost manufacturers hundreds of millions of dollars annually. My ass. They just don’t want to do it. It’s not in their DNA to tear down the junk they sell. It could also encourage CE companies to “leave” New York, whatever that means, to which I say “Go for it. There’s always Jersey.”
The WSJ has some quotes:
New York Department of Sanitation spokesman Matthew LiPani referred reporters to a prepared statement: “DSNY has always preferred a statewide solution for e-waste, and initially put a moratorium on the implementation of e-waste rules because of possible action by the State Legislature that would pre-empt the city law. The City believes that the laws and rules are appropriate and lawful, and will defend the matter in court.”
The National Resource Defense Council, an environmental and public health advocacy group, also criticized the suit and praised the New York City ordinance.
“This 11th-hour move to obstruct a common-sense municipal recycling program similar to those in 19 states calls into question the environmental credentials these manufacturers actively promote,” said Kate Sinding, Senior Attorney in the New York Urban Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a release. “The City’s landmark recycling law would keep thousands of tons of spent electronics out of our landfills and incinerators every year.”
Seriously, CEA – your members churn this crap and work hard to ensure planned obsolescence. You pay lip service to going green yet entire swathes of Asia and Africa are polluted by your recycling schemes. Man up and do it right. I’m sure you guys can hire some men to wander the streets picking up monitors and maybe you’ll even solve the problem by building out an entire recycling infrastructure. Heck, I’ll even accept the extra few trucks it will take. After all, if they outlawed FedEx or UPS delivery of consumer electronics for the same reasons you guys would shit yourselves and those guys run up and down every street in the city multiple times a day.