Expands recycling of electronic products

STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6393 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 13, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. HARCKHAM, KAVANAGH -- read twice and ordered print- ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Environmental Conservation AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to recy- cling of electronic products The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 27-2605 of the 2 environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 99 of the laws of 3 2010, is amended to read as follows: 4 (d) a general description of the manner in which the manufacturer will 5 comply with section 27-2603 of this title, including specific informa- 6 tion on the manufacturer's electronic waste acceptance program in the 7 state, [ and ] a current list of locations within the state where consum- 8 ers may return electronic waste , and a description of the public educa- 9 tion and outreach program required by paragraph (c) of subdivision five 10 of this section ; 11 § 2. Paragraphs (a) and (c) of subdivision 5 of section 27-2605 of the 12 environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 99 of the laws of 13 2010, are amended to read as follows: 14 (a) collection, handling and recycling or reuse of electronic waste 15 pursuant to section 27-2603 of this title in a manner convenient to 16 consumers. [ The following acceptance methods shall be considered reason- 17 ably convenient: (i) mail or ship back return programs; (ii) collection 18 or acceptance events conducted by the manufacturer or the manufacturer's 19 agent or designee, including events conducted through local governments 20 or private parties; (iii) fixed acceptance locations such as dedicated 21 acceptance sites operated by the manufacturer or its agent or designee; 22 (iv) agreements with local governments, retail stores, sales outlets and 23 not-for-profit organizations which have agreed to provide facilities for 24 the collection of electronic waste; (v) community collection events; and EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD10925-01-5 S. 6393 2 1 (vi) any combination of these or other acceptance methods which effec- 2 tively provide for the acceptance of electronic waste for recycling or 3 reuse through means that are available and reasonably convenient to 4 consumers in the state. At a minimum, the manufacturer shall ensure that 5 all counties of the state, and all municipalities which have a popu- 6 lation of ten thousand or greater, have at least one method of accept- 7 ance that is available within such county or municipality. The depart- 8 ment may establish additional requirements to ensure convenient 9 collection from consumers ] To meet minimum collection requirements, a 10 manufacturer or the manufacturer's agent or designee shall use geograph- 11 ic modeling to determine the number and distribution of permanent sites 12 to be operated by the manufacturer or its agent or designee for 13 collection of covered electronic equipment based on the following crite- 14 ria: (i) at least ninety percent of New York residents shall have a 15 collection site within a fifteen mile radius of their principal resi- 16 dence; and (ii) one additional permanent collection site will be estab- 17 lished for every fifty thousand residents of an urbanized area (as 18 defined by the United States Census Bureau). 19 In addition, a manufacturer or its agent or its designee, shall ensure 20 that: (i) in counties with populations between sixty-five thousand and 21 three hundred thousand people, there shall be no less than three perma- 22 nent collection locations for collection of covered electronic equip- 23 ment; and (ii) in counties with less than sixty-five thousand people, 24 there shall be, at a minimum, three community collection or acceptance 25 events conducted on an annual basis by the manufacturer or the manufac- 26 turer's agent or designee, or on behalf of the manufacturer or its agent 27 or designee by a local government or private party. The schedule for 28 such collection events shall be made available to the public and 29 provided to the department on or before the first day of January of each 30 year. 31 Permanent collection locations may be operated by the manufacturer or 32 its agent or designee, or by local governments, retail stores, sales 33 outlets, and not-for-profit organizations which have agreed with the 34 manufacturer or its agent or designee to provide facilities for the 35 collection of electronic waste. 36 Nothing in this section shall prohibit a county or solid waste author- 37 ity, at its discretion, to establish a permanent collection site for 38 electronic waste to meet the convenience standard, and the manufacturer, 39 or its agent or designee, shall accept all covered electronic equipment 40 so collected at no cost to the municipality, and shall reimburse to the 41 municipality the reasonable costs of preparing the collected equipment 42 for shipment. 43 A manufacturer may participate with other manufacturers in a collec- 44 tive electronic waste acceptance program to achieve the convenience 45 standard established herein ; 46 (c) a public education and outreach program , developed in collab- 47 oration with the manufacturer and the operator of each electronic waste 48 collection site where the manufacturer's covered electronic equipment is 49 collected, to inform consumers about the manufacturer's electronic waste 50 acceptance program, including at a minimum one or more of the following : 51 (i) an internet website and a toll-free telephone number provided by the 52 manufacturer and written information included in the product manual for, 53 or at the time of sale of, covered electronic equipment that provides 54 sufficient information to allow a consumer of covered electronic equip- 55 ment to learn how to return the covered equipment for recycling or 56 reuse, and in the case of manufacturers of computers, hard drives and S. 6393 3 1 other covered electronic equipment that have internal memory on which 2 personal or other confidential data can be stored, such website shall 3 provide instructions for how consumers can destroy such data before 4 surrendering the products for recycling or reuse; (ii) advertisements 5 and press releases [ if any ]; and (iii) post-purchase electronic notifi- 6 cation from the manufacturer to consumers; and 7 § 3. Subdivision 8 of section 27-2605 of the environmental conserva- 8 tion law, as added by chapter 99 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read 9 as follows: 10 8. A manufacturer shall be responsible for all costs associated with 11 the implementation of the electronic waste acceptance program , including 12 but not limited to all costs of collection, transportation and recycling 13 of covered electronic equipment. A manufacturer shall continue to cover 14 the full costs of collection, transportation and recycling of covered 15 electronic equipment, and its collection responsibilities under subdivi- 16 sion one of this section shall continue, regardless of whether the 17 acceptance standard in subdivision four of section 27-2603 of this title 18 is achieved for the year . The manufacturer or its agent shall not 19 charge consumers , municipalities or electronic waste collection sites 20 for the collection, handling and recycling and reuse of electronic 21 waste, provided that such prohibition shall not apply to a charge on 22 business consumers or to charges for premium services. This prohibition 23 shall not apply to a manufacturer's contract with a consumer for the 24 collection, handling, recycling or reuse of electronic waste that was 25 entered into prior to the effective date of this section. For purposes 26 of this subdivision, "business consumer" means a for-profit entity which 27 has fifty or more full time employees or a not-for-profit corporation 28 with seventy-five or more full time employees, but not a not-for-profit 29 corporation designated under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue 30 code. For purposes of this subdivision, "premium services" means equip- 31 ment and data security services, refurbishment for reuse by the consum- 32 er, and other custom services as may be determined by the department. 33 § 4. Section 27-2603 of the environmental conservation law is amended 34 by adding a new subdivision 8 to read as follows: 35 8. A person operating an electronic waste collection site, an elec- 36 tronic waste consolidation facility or an electronic waste recycling 37 facility and having a reasonable ground to believe that a manufacturer 38 has failed or is failing to cover all costs of collection, transporta- 39 tion or recycling of covered electronic equipment, may request the 40 department to investigate such alleged failure and, upon a finding by 41 the department that the manufacturer has failed or is failing to cover 42 such costs, the department shall order the manufacturer to pay such 43 costs. 44 § 5. Paragraphs (f) and (h) of subdivision 1 of section 27-2617 of the 45 environmental conservation law, as added by chapter 99 of the laws of 46 2010, are amended to read as follows: 47 (f) the names and locations of electronic waste recycling facilities 48 utilized by the manufacturer and entities to which electronic waste is 49 sent for reuse, whether such facilities or entities are located in the 50 state or outside the state, including details on the methods of recycl- 51 ing or reuse of electronic waste, any disassembly or physical recovery 52 operation used, and the environmental management measures implemented by 53 [ such ] each recycling facility or entity identified by the manufacturer 54 under this paragraph ; 55 (h) a [ brief ] description of [ its ] the public education and outreach 56 program required by paragraph (c) of subdivision five of section 27-2605 S. 6393 4 1 of this title, including the number of visits to the internet website 2 and calls to the toll-free telephone number provided by the manufacturer 3 [ as required by section 27-2605 of this title ] , copies of written 4 notices, and number of post-purchase electronic notifications sent to 5 consumers ; 6 § 6. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 7 it shall have become a law.