Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, December 14, 2010,
Item 3
3 is next.
that is consider and take appropriate action on request for Travis County to support legislation to spur recycling in Texas.
a is a resolution supporting state legislation to establish a recycling collection program for discarded electronic products, and b, a resolution supporting state legislation to establish a recycling take-back program for mercury containing products.
miss giddry.
>> questions?
>> comments?
>> well, in 2007, Texas campaign for the environment with the help of no one profits like good will, large recycle recycles, companies like dell and hp, we were able to pass by unanimous vote a state law for computer recycling.
what we found, though, is that because this is an unfunded mandate, the tceq was charged -- out of 200 cities we surveyed so far, only 13% of those governments knew there was a state law for computer recycling and they didn't have to fund the payback and collection events that you have to do at a city or county level.
what we've been working on is pushing a public education campaign statewide to help the tceq and state -- excuse me, the county and city governments to push that public education there and to help local governments sway their residents to using the free take-back law instead of using their local services.
it is a concept that is becoming the norm in the industry, in the electronics industry where take-back is starting to turn profits for companies.
we've seen this with companies like dell.
unfortunately, because those rules are so weak that the tceq put on the books for this particular state law, we found that dell has done 85% of the recycling through their partnership with good will and that is not an even playing field whatsoever.
so other companies are getting away with not carrying their own weight and abiding by the law.
and so in 2009 we pushed a bipartisan bill as well for television recycling.
and that passed with only 12 no votes, but unfortunately two days after the digital switch, governor perry vetoed that bill.
so we had a very broad coalition of support of that and we had a unanimous decision in the senate, but we have a no go on t.v.
recycling in Texas.
I’m sure you can only imagine where these old t.v.s are going after that switch and people have ungraded to the new flat screens, plasma, lcds, whatever they are called these days, and they are coming down in price because demand is so high for these types of gadgets, imagery gadgets.
so we are pushing yet again to broaden the computer recycling bill that will include televisions, gaming equipment, cell phones, things like that.
so that local governments do not have to bear the financial burden of taking back their constituents' old electronics and making sure that the manufacturers are responsible at the end of the life of their products for a take-back program that is free to consumers.
and the funny thing is about the television recycling bill, it was supported by large industry and it was a funded mandate.
they would have had to pay $2,500, each company, per year to be part of the Texas program.
and that would have funded the educational programs, the environmental programs for texans, and captured toxic materials like lead, barium, out of our soils and waterways and hold the manufacturers responsible.
we want to push the industry concept that responsibility is the way to go to take the burden off --
>> you brought up a real good point, and I’ve been listening to you and, of course, looking at the resolution and looking at some of the process as far as disposing of such e-waste.
there are instances where some of this is making its way to developing nations, the e waste, the television, all the other type of components that carry hazardous contaminating type of settings as far as exposure for human beings.
and what's happening is that these particular third -- well, developing nations are importing some of this waste, per se, and actually the persons that are living there actually go through and pick out the expensive components of these particular products, whether it be computers or monitors and a whole bunch of other things, and take the valuables out and, of course, sell them to -- you know, for a livelihood.
and it's kind of disheartening to see those persons being exposed to the contaminants contained in this type of e-waste, and it's a big deal here, but it's also a big deal all across the world.
so it's something I think we need to put our hands on and arms around and hopefully we can bring it in check.
>> absolutely.
and as we have seen the large majority of electronics that are discarded, when they go to recycling events, cities and counties want to do the right thing, but a lot of times they don't know they are dealing with unscrupulous rye seek he r.
it is going to india, china, for scrap.
so typically third world countries are not going to have the correct safety gear and they are not going to have the correct tools in order to break these components down.
and they are exposing themselves to the toxic chemicals that I mentioned before, among many others.
and just to reap the benefits of the valuable materials like copper and nickel and gold in there.
but we find that electronics -- especially whenever you talk about computers, 80% recyclable, 90%.
that's a lot of money that these companies could be saving as they bring it back into their system, they recover those resources.
not only that, we have to put people to work in Texas.
the recycling sector and a zero waste concept at the company, the city, the county and state level is where we're really going to find the next wave of jobs is through the recycling sector.
reusing those components and putting people to work, bringing those local revenues back to companies and the local establishment.
>> move approval.
>> second.
>> all in all we think it's pretty good.
>> second, judge.
>> any more discussion?
>> unless you have questions.
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
>> good luck.
>> thank you for what you do.
>> do you want to talk about b?
>> we just did, didn't we?
we just approved it.
>> we approved a for electronics.
>> we approved b too.
do you have comments?
>> well, we want to push a bounty system through state legislation for recovery of mercury thermometers, lighting, come bacteria -- compt fluorescent lighting and as well as manufacturers, they need to establish programs for products that contain mercury.
they are putting the toxins in, they need to be responsible for keeping the toxins out of our air and water and our bodily systems as well.
our youngest members of society are deemed most susceptible to these types of toxins.
and we have a responsibility to -- to them to do it right and make sure that the companies are acting responsibly.
>> I move that we approve 3 b again.
>> second.
I’ll second that again, judge.
>> we moved to fast for miss giddry.
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
>> thank you.
thank you all for what you do.
>> appreciate your work.
>> thank you all for what you do.
you are doing a good job.
thank you.
keep us posted.
keep deece posted on how these particular bills are moving over there at the state legislature.
if you can, keep deece, our public relations person, involved or keep us informed what's going on with these resolutions.
>> legislatively?
>> yeah, it would be good to know if we track them accordingly.
>> you got it.
are you handing those to me?
>> they are use.
>> when we approve them, you've got to take them with you.
what you do on the other side of that door is between you and those resolutions.
>> thank you.
thank you.
>> say hello to robin.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 2:33 PM
