By Doug Fletcher,Staff Writer

If they build them, they must pay to recycle them.

That’s the premise behind a state law that takes effect today requiring the makers of televisions and computer monitors to be responsible for their recycling.

The legislation, a first of its kind for the nation, is modeled after laws in Europe that require manufacturers there to recycle items that have outlived their usefulness. Some European nations even require retailers to take back packaging and bags.

Maine’s law, which was promoted by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, is limited to TV screens and computer monitors. Each component, says the council, contains an array of poisons, including from three to eight pounds of lead.

Until now, that stuff would typically end up either in a landfill or an incinerator. Under the new law, companies that make TVs and computer monitors will have to pay to recycle the materials.

Companies such as Pine Tree Waste, which have obtained state Department of Environmental Protection licenses, will act as consolidators. They’ll go to municipal recycling centers to pick up the electronic waste, haul it to recyclers who specialize in the goods and then bill the manufacturers for their costs.

Sid Hazelton, the assistant director of Auburn’s Public Works Department, said the beauty of the bill – besides the fact that it will keep toxics from getting into the ground and water – is that cities and towns don’t have to foot the disposal costs.

In Auburn, that also means that homeowners who want to dispose of an old TV or computer monitor won’t have to come up with four dollars to pay for the disposal.

Auburn already has put in place a couple of shipping containers that will be used to store the waste until its time for shipment to a recycler.

The containers are at the Public Works yard off Mt. Auburn Avenue. Hazelton said the program will kick off soon and be promoted at the time. Once it starts, people there will take their TVs and monitors to the containers and not to the MidMaine Waste Action Corp. incinerator.

In Lewiston, transfer station chief Rob Stalford said he’s not sure if the law will translate to a change in disposal fees. People in that city buy a book of tickets that allows them to bring waste to the transfer station. One of those tickets covers the cost of disposing of a TV or monitor.

“That’s something we’re looking at” as part of the budget process, Stalford said of any fee changes.

Judy Berk, a spokeswoman for the Natural Resources Council, said that since the law requires makers to pay for making their products environmentally harmless, it “should encourage” manufacturers “to use less toxic chemicals and design their products for easy recycling.”

“It’s a trend seen in Europe for a while,” she noted. The law shifts “responsibilities for managing product-related waste from taxpayers to producers.”

Berk said the council is encouraging people to make certain they separate TVs and computer monitors from other trash to help facilitate the recycling program.

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