California adopts cell phone recycling law.CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (German pronunciation (IPA): [ˈaɐ̯nɔlt ˈaloɪ̯s ˈʃvaɐ̯ʦənˌʔɛɡɐ] has signed into law the Cell Phone Recycling recycling, the process of recovering and reusing waste products—from household use, manufacturing, agriculture, and business—and thereby reducing their burden on the environment. Act of 2004, which requires retailers to have a system in place to collect used mobile phones and recycle or dispose of them in a way that's environmentally safe."Almost 45,000 cell phones are thrown away every day in California--either into a drawer somewhere or worse, into the trash," California Assemblywomen Fran Pavley Fran Pavley is a Democratic politician and previously served as a California Assemblywoman and as the first mayor of the Southern California community of Agoura Hills. She served as a Mayor and Councilmember for four terms. says. "Their circuit boards contain myriad toxins such as arsenic arsenic (är`sənĭk), a semimetallic chemical element; symbol As; at. no. 33; at. wt. 74.9216; m.p. 817°C; (at 28 atmospheres pressure); sublimation point 613°C;; sp. gr. (stable form) 5.73; valence −3, 0, +3, or +5. , lead, and mercury, many of which are Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs), and have the potential to be released into the air and groundwater when they're burned in incinerators or disposed of in landfills." Retailers will have to comply with the law if they want to sell new devices in the state of California. The law takes effect July 1, 2006. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion