S 0619 Joint Resolution, By Leventis, Land, Moore, McConnell, Hutto, Reese, 
Washington and Giese
 A JOINT RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH THE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT RECYCLING PROGRAM TO
 BE ADMINISTERED BY THE RECYCLING MARKET DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL WITHIN
 THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; TO IMPOSE A FIVE DOLLAR FEE ON EACH PIECE OF
 ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT CONTAINING A CATHODE RAY TUBE SOLD; TO REQUIRE THE STATE
 TREASURER TO DEPOSIT THE FEES COLLECTED IN THE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT RECYCLING
 FUND TO BE USED, AMONG OTHER THINGS, TO DETERMINE THE MOST EFFICIENT MEANS OF
 COLLECTING, TRANSPORTING, AND PROCESSING SCRAP ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT AND TO
 AWARD GRANTS, CONTRACTS, AND LOANS TO FURTHER THE PROCESS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR
 RECYCLING THIS EQUIPMENT; TO ESTABLISH THE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT RECYCLING
 COMMITTEE TO REVIEW AND EVALUATE THE USE OF THE RECYCLING FUND; AND TO REQUIRE
 THE RECYCLING MARKET DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO EVALUATE THE PROGRAM AND
 RECOMMEND WHETHER THIS PROGRAM SHOULD CONTINUE AND BE MADE PERMANENT LAW.

   03/18/99  Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-4
   03/18/99  Senate Referred to Committee on Agriculture and Natural
                     Resources SJ-4
   04/15/99  Senate Committee report: Favorable with amendment
                     Agriculture and Natural Resources SJ-16
   04/20/99  Senate Amended SJ-22
   04/20/99  Senate Read second time SJ-22
   04/20/99  Senate Ordered to third reading with notice of
                     amendments SJ-22
   04/29/99  Senate Amended SJ-24
   04/29/99  Senate Read third time and sent to House SJ-24
   05/04/99  House  Introduced and read first time HJ-10
   05/04/99  House  Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Natural
                     Resources and Environmental Affairs HJ-10

April 29, 1999

S. 619

Introduced by Senators Leventis, Land, Moore, McConnell, Hutto, Reese, Washington and Giese

S. Printed 4/29/99--S.

Read the first time March 18, 1999.

TO ESTABLISH THE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT RECYCLING PROGRAM TO BE ADMINISTERED BY THE RECYCLING MARKET DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE; TO IMPOSE A FIVE DOLLAR FEE ON EACH PIECE OF ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT CONTAINING A CATHODE RAY TUBE SOLD; TO REQUIRE THE STATE TREASURER TO DEPOSIT THE FEES COLLECTED IN THE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT RECYCLING FUND TO BE USED, AMONG OTHER THINGS, TO DETERMINE THE MOST EFFICIENT MEANS OF COLLECTING, TRANSPORTING, AND PROCESSING SCRAP ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT AND TO AWARD GRANTS, CONTRACTS, AND LOANS TO FURTHER THE PROCESS AND TECHNOLOGY FOR RECYCLING THIS EQUIPMENT; TO ESTABLISH THE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT RECYCLING COMMITTEE TO REVIEW AND EVALUATE THE USE OF THE RECYCLING FUND; AND TO REQUIRE THE RECYCLING MARKET DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO EVALUATE THE PROGRAM AND RECOMMEND WHETHER THIS PROGRAM SHOULD CONTINUE AND BE MADE PERMANENT LAW.

Amend Title To Conform

Whereas, electronic products are part of our daily lives, both in the home and business. Of the fourteen million personal computers and seventeen million televisions retired this year, eighty-five percent will be stored in attics and warehouses. It is predicted that fifty-five million whole personal computers will be landfilled by the year 2005 in addition to a portion of the one hundred forty-three million processed scrap computers. This will equate to one hundred seventy million cubic feet of computers that, if piled on one acre, would reach four thousand feet in height; and

Whereas, electronic equipment can contain a variety of toxic materials, one of these being lead, and in older equipment, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mercury. Cathode ray tubes (CRTs) found in computer screens and televisions are at least twenty percent lead oxide by weight. The average CRT contains about eight pounds of lead. Electronic equipment also contributes significant levels of cadmium, arsenic, zinc, mercury, and selenium to landfill leachate. The equipment contains precious metals, copper, steel, aluminum, and plastic which should be recycled; and

Whereas, it is vital that the State implement a program for the management and disposal of used electronic equipment, with an emphasis on recycling, in order to protect the health and welfare of its citizens. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. (A) There is established the Electronic Equipment Recycling Program. This program must be administered by the Recycling Market Development Advisory Council (RMDAC) within the Department of Commerce. The council shall develop and implement the program to determine the most efficient means of collecting, storing, transporting, processing, and recycling or otherwise disposing of electronic equipment.

(B) The Electronic Equipment Recycling Fund must be used to:

(1) work with local government and businesses to determine the most efficient means of collecting, transporting, and processing scrap electronic equipment;

(2) develop public education programs on the benefits of electronic equipment recycling and how to accomplish it;

(3) award grants to local governments to pay processing and recycling costs assessed by authorized electronics recyclers;

(4) award contracts to businesses and universities for research and development of new or innovative electronics recycling technology;

(5) provide loans to electronic equipment recycling businesses; and

(6) carry out activities of the Office of Solid Waste Reduction and Recycling to implement provisions of this section and to promote the recycling of electronic equipment.

(C) Electronic equipment recycling grants must be awarded on the basis of written grant request proposals submitted to and approved by the Electronic Equipment Recycling Committee, established pursuant to subsection (D). Loan applications, if initially approved by this committee, must be reviewed by the South Carolina Jobs Economic Development Authority (JEDA) for further evaluation and performance of due diligence. Loans under this program must be administered by JEDA.

Grant and loan requests must be reviewed for the impact of creating sustained processes for recovering and recycling scrap electronics, minimizing and eliminating substantial volumes of this material as waste, and creating jobs.

(D) There is established the Electronic Equipment Recycling Committee whose purpose is to evaluate and review the uses of the Electronic Equipment Recycling Fund. The RMDAC shall make recommendations to the Governor who shall appoint with advice and consent of the Senate one representative from each of the following groups to serve on the committee: RMDAC, the Solid Waste Advisory Council, a South Carolina financial institution, the electronics manufacturing industry, the Department of Health and Environmental Control, the environmental community, a consumer member of the public, the School of the Environment of the University of South Carolina, the South Carolina Department of Revenue, the retail community, and local government. The chairman of the committee must be appointed by the Recycling Market Development Council.

The initial appointment to the Electronic Equipment Recycling Committee shall be for five years. Should the existence of the council continue after the term of this joint resolution, the members shall serve for a term of four years. However, the terms of the initial appointees from the first six groups delineated above shall be two years and the appointees shall be eligible for reappointment for a full four-year term thereafter.

(E) The RMDAC shall report on the work and progress of the Electronic Equipment Recycling Program in its annual report to the Governor and General Assembly.

SECTION 2. Before July 1, 2004, the Electronics Equipment Recycling Program must be evaluated to determine its effectiveness in creating satisfactory markets, a sufficient recovery infrastructure, and an adequate funding mechanism to support electronics recycling in South Carolina. Program success in these areas must be evaluated by the Recycling Market Development Advisory Council. The advisory council shall recommend whether this program should continue and be made permanent law.

The Electronics Equipment Recycling Program is abolished July 1, 2004, unless otherwise continued by law.

SECTION 3. A retail business that is involved in the sale and marketing of electronic equipment containing cathode ray tubes is not required to serve as a recycling facility, holding bin, collection facility, or accept trade-ins for cathode ray tubes that were previously sold.

SECTION 4. This joint resolution takes effect July 1, 1999.