Editorial: E-waste law creates problems

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 15, 2006

Government has a tendency to make rules to solve problems, only to create problems worse than the original.

Such is the case with Minnesota&8217;s electronic waste recycling law, which went into effect earlier this year.

The law is intended to keep old television sets and computer monitors out of trash landfills. These pieces of video equipment contain lead, mercury, cadmium and other harmful materials that can leach out and perhaps escape into the environment from the landfills.

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The law now requires waste collection companies to properly dispose of the equipment. This costs anywhere from $5 to $25 per unit, and the waste companies, of course, pass the cost on to the customer.

Unfortunately, many people, rather than pay the fee, have started dumping old TVs and monitors in ditches and ravines. More responsible scofflaws are wrapping them in trash bags and leaving them at the dump sites, or leaving them at the waste collection companies after hours instead of paying the fee.

If throwing old TVs into landfills is bad for the environment, then dumping them in ditches and ravines has to be a lot worse. The lead and other heavy metals leach right into the groundwater, or head down the ditch directly into rivers and streams.

It is a good idea to keep these materials out of landfills. But the rules passed by the state last year are not solving the problem. They are making it worse. It&8217;s a sad fact of human nature that some people will do the right thing unless it costs them money.

The Legislature is being asked to revisit the rules this session. We hope they can come up with a more workable solution.

&8212; The Journal of New Ulm, Dec. 13