State Legislation

States Are Passing E-Waste Legislation

So far, 25 states have passed legislation mandating statewide e-waste recycling. Several more states are working on passing new laws or improving existing laws.

All laws except California and Utah use the Producer Responsibility approach, where the manufacturers must pay for recycling. This means that 65% of the population of the U.S. is now covered by a state e-waste recycling law.

How Do The Laws Work?

Brief Comparison of State E-Waste Laws.
This chart compares all the state e-waste laws against basic criteria.

Scope of Products in E-waste Laws
This chart compares the scope of products of all e-waste laws. Generally, the scope of products is getting broader, with more recent laws including more products including printers, faxes, and other devices.

How Much E-Waste Comes Back Under State Programs?
This chart shows collection volumes from the states with e-waste programs. Compares results between states, by converting to pounds per person basis. You can see a significant range in results.

Lessons-Learned-from-State-E-waste-laws
What have we learned from the 25 states that have passed e-waste laws? What are the conclusions and policy recommendations based on those lessons learned?

States Where You Can’t Throw E-Waste Into the Trash.
Which states have passed laws keeping e-waste out of landfills and/or incinerators?

Find many more tools and more information on our state legislative toolkit page.

Details on the State Laws and Programs

State	Date signed into Law	Start date for recycling	Link to Law or bill	State program website
States and Cities with Producer Responsibility Laws
Connecticut	July 2007	Rulemaking delayed start of collection until early 2011.	CT law Regulations, as amended Nov 2012	Program info
Hawaii	July 2008	Jan 2, 2010	Hawaii law	State agency website
Illinois	Sept 17, 2008	Jan 1, 2010	Illinois Law 2008 2011 Amendments	State agency website 2010 Goals 2010 Program results
Indiana	May 13, 2009 Amended in 2012	April 1, 2010	Indiana Law Summary of law 2012 bill changing law p17 Fact sheet on 2012 changes E-waste management regulations	Agency Website 2013 Report from State
Maine	2004 initial law 2009 – expanded scope of products 2011 – expands covered entities	Initial program began Jan 2006	Maine Law 2011: Bill expanding recycling to cover schools, non profits, small business:	Program Info 2010 Report on program
Maryland	2005	Jan 2006 Modified 2008 and 2012	Maryland Law 2012 Changes HB 879	Program Info
Michigan	Dec 26, 2008	April 1, 2010	Michigan Law	Agency website
Minnesota	May 2007	August 2007	Minnesota Law	Program Info 2010 report to legislature. 2011 Report to legislature
Missouri	June 16, 2008	July 1 2010 or after	Missouri bill Regulations Draft Rules	State agency program websitee-cycle Missouri website
New Jersey	Signed Jan 15, 2008 Amended bill signed Jan 12, 2009	Jan 1, 2011	Original New Jersey Bill Amended bill Rules adopted Feb 2012	Program Info
New York State	May 29, 2010	April 1, 2011	New York Law	Summary of the law State agency website
New York CITY	INT 728 signed by Mayor 4/1/2008INT 729 Vetoed by Mayor but council overrode 5/14/08	July 1 2009 date was delayed by lawsuit against law	Passed as 2 separate laws in 2008:Local Law 13 established the program. Local law 21 established the goals.	Law was pre-empted by the New York State law. Lawsuit was dropped.
North Carolina	Aug 2007 Bill adding TVs passed Aug 2008	Jan 1, 2010	NC Bill (This is an omnibus waste bill. See Section 16 for e-waste language.) 2008 Bill adding TVs to program. 2010 bill added printers, scanners to definition of computers 2015 saw an attempt to repeal this law. It ended up as a study bill. Findings are due April 1, 2016. Chaptered law. Starts at § 130A-309.130	State agency e-waste site
Oklahoma	May 13, 2008	Jan 1, 2009	Oklahoma Law Rules	State agency website Year 1 Report Year 2 Report Reports main page
Oregon	June 2007 Amended June 29, 2011	Jan 1, 2009Amended scope takes effect in 2015	Original Oregon law 2011 law expanding scope SB82 Statute Chapter 459A — Reuse and Recycling	Program info Study on State Recycling Infrastructure Study of OR & WA programs March 2013 Biennial report
Pennsylvania	Nov 23, 2010	Jan 2012	Penn law	State agency website
Rhode Island	Jun 27, 2008	Feb 1, 2009	Rhode Island Law Proposed Regs June 2013	State e-waste site
South Carolina	May 19, 2010 Amended Mar 4, 2014	July 1, 2011	South Carolina law 2010 Bill to revise law in 2014	State agency e-waste site
Texas	Computer law passed June 2007TV law passed June 2011	Sept 1, 2008	Texas computer takeback law Texas TV takeback law	Texas computer program website Report on 2009 Report on 2010 Texas TV program website
Vermont	April 19, 2010	July 1, 2011	Vermont bill	State agency website 2013 Report to Legislature 2014 Report
Virginia	March 11, 2008	July 1, 2009	Virginia bill	State Agency program website
Washington	Mar 2006	Began Jan 1, 2009	Washington Law Rules and Regs for Washington program.	Program website Data on collections 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Study of OR & WA programs Summary of Year 1 of Wash. Program
West Virginia	April 1, 2008 March 10, 2016 repealed landfill ban	July 1 2009	W VA bill Rules adopted 2010 HB 4540: In 2016, WV repealed its landfill ban, effective July 2016.	State agency program website WV Collection Data
Wisconsin	Oct 23, 2009	Jan 1, 2010	Wisconsin Law	State agency program website Reports on program: Year 1 Jan – June 2010 Year 2 Report 2011 Year 3 Report 2012 Year 4 Report 2013 Results from survey of residents on e-waste program. Sept 2012 Survey results 2013
States with Consumer Fee Laws or Other Models
California	2003	California Laws and Program Info Even though California passed an ARF bill for e-waste, in Sept 2007 the State Agency adopted a resolution calling for an extended producer responsibility (EPR) approach and framework for future state policy. Detailed policy on EPR .
Utah	March 22 2011	No collection required – just education on recycling.	Utah bill