California Assembly Passes First Cell Phone Recycling Bill

Legislation establishing the nation's first cell phone recycling requirement passed the California State Assembly Wednesday night on a 41-32 vote. The bill now advances to the State Senate. The bill by Assembly Member Fran Pavley, a Democrat from the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills, would require any entity selling cell phones to take back and recycle old phones at no cost to the consumer. "Almost 40,000 cell phones are thrown away every day in California - either into a drawer somewhere or worse, into the trash," said Pavley, who explained that her bill passed despite opposition from the cell phone industry. Free cell phones, given away to stimulate signups for phone services, number into the millions, and because they are free, many consumers just toss the phones away without thinking about the toxics inside. "Their circuit boards contain myriad toxins such as arsenic, beryllium and lead, many of which are persistent bioaccumulative toxins (PBTs), and have the potential to be released into the air and groundwater when burned in incinerators or disposed of in landfills," she said. "That's a serious threat to human health and our environment and we need to provide a real alternative." The bill requires retailers […]

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