Electronics Timeline

The OEA's product stewardship work on electronics has evolved from a state initiative into a national one.

Minnesota's initiatives in 1999-2000, such as the task force and recycling project described below, have involved four electronics manufacturers, several retailers and recyclers, and government representatives from the state and counties.

Minnesota is now participating in NEPSI, the national product stewardship initiative for electronics. The national initiative began in June 2001 and has been extended through February 2004. More than 40 members are participating: electronics manufacturers, retailers, and recyclers, as well as representatives from federal, state and local government, and national environmental and recycling organizations.

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Timeline

July 1995 | Management of Waste Electronic Appliances (275Kb)
  The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance issues Management of Waste Electronic Appliances, a report to the state Legislature that developed estimates of the number of waste electronics entering the waste stream and gathered information on the toxic materials they contain. The OEA outlined management options and gave recommendations for improving the handling of electronic products in waste.

February 1999 | Minnesota's product stewardship policy
  The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA) issues product stewardship policy proposal that names electronics containing CRTs as one of three priority products. The proposal establishes a policy framework that states the principles and goals of product stewardship. The proposal calls on manufacturers to assume some costs and responsibility for getting old products collected and recycled, and outlines a process for bringing industry and government together to set recycling goals.

August 1999–March 2000 | Electronics Recycling Demonstration Project
  The OEA, Sony Electronics, Panasonic-Matsushita, Waste Management's Asset Recovery Group and the American Plastics Council jointly fund and conduct a statewide electronics collection and recycling project. The three-month project involved 64 collection sites and brought in 575 tons of old electronic products—twice the amount anticipated by the project partners. The project evaluated product composition, and yielded valuable findings about the costs and benefits of various collection methods and markets for the materials.

September 1999–October 2000 | CRT Task Force
  The OEA and the Solid Waste Management Coordinating Board of the Metropolitan Counties convene a task force on electronic products containing CRTs to examine management and financing options, and to assess various markets for materials from recovered electronic products. Task force members include electronics manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, and local and state government representatives.

October 2000 | Sony electronics recycling program
  Sony Electronics announces that the company will recycle for free any Sony products collected from Minnesota residents. As of March 2002, Waste Management Asset Recovery Group had established 13 drop-off points in southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities area. About 9000 pounds of Sony-brand electronics were recycled in 2001.

April 2001 | OEA helps launch national initiative
  The National Electronics Product Stewardship Initiative (NEPSI) starts with a planning meeting in Washington, D.C. NEPSI is a series of meetings involving 12 states and local governments, 12 electronics manufacturers, the U.S. EPA, retailers, recyclers and national environmental organizations. The purpose of the dialogue is to reach agreement on how to establish and fund a national program for the recovery, reuse and recycling of used electronics.

Last update December 2003