British Columbia offers drop-off locations.

The Electronics Stewardship Association of British Columbia (ESABC) has introduced a drop-off collection program for electronics that will be available throughout the province beginning Aug.1, 2007. The program is available to residents and businesses in British Columbia.

Authorized collection sites are identified by a "Return-It Electronics" symbol. The locations also can be found at www.electronicsrecyclingbc.ca.

Encorp Pacific, based in Burnaby, British Columbia, manages the collection program.

ESABC is a nonprofit corporation established by manufacturers, retailers and others in response to the British Columbia Recycling Regulation amendment of February 2006. Approved by the B.C. Ministry of Environment in December 2006, the ESABC plan is the only waste electronics product management program that, to date, has been approved by the government of British Columbia.

Sean De Vries, chairman of ESABC and environmental manager of Panasonic Canada, says, "With our Encorp partnership and their existing infrastructure of depots and proven capabilities in managing BC's beverage recycling program, we are well positioned to administer the new program."

Consumers, producers and retailers of new electronics products will carry the cost of the program. As of the Aug. 1 launch date, an environmental handling fee levied on the sale of new products in the designated categories is being used to fund the program.

Environmental handling fees are $15 to $45 (depending on size) for televisions; $10 for desktop computers (including accessories); $8 for desktop printers; $5 for notebook computers and $12 for monitors.

Encorp is headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia.

More information about the electronics recycling collection program is available online at the Encorp Web site, www.encorp.ca, or by calling [phone].