Senate panel advances controversial bid to allow dumping of toxic electronics in landfills

That sleek flat panel TV with the ultra high-definition screen — or the anvil of an ancient model that can still muster a picture — are safe when hanging on your living room wall. But crush them in a landfill and their contents are toxic.

A controversial provision in the state legislature’s Regulatory Reform Bill would allow local governments to opt out of the statewide ban on disposing of electronics in landfills. The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee gave the bill a favorable report Thursday, although the measure will likely change significantly before the end of the session.

Sen. Norm Sanderson, an eastern North Carolina Republican and the committee’s co-chair, said the supply of old electronics exceeds the demand. “Go out back of any nonprofit resells this stuff, and they don’t know what to do with it,” he said. “We’ve got to handle this problem.”

In 2010, the state legislature passed a law prohibiting televisions, computers, monitors, printers, scanners and scanner-fax machines from being disposed of in landfills. In 2015, lawmakers amended the ban to allow keyboards and mice to be thrown away and not recycled.

Read more: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2019/05/23/senate-panel-advances-controversial-bid-to-allow-dumping-of-toxic-electronics-in-landfills/