S.77 Vermont E-Waste: The Pithy

The trick with VT S.77 now is for our clients (municipalities) to get the money without pretending that Vermont is like Wisconsin or NY, starting from scratch. We are already 80% of the way to the goal and most of the "opportunity" will be for out of state companies to bid on programs we set up years ago, using their relationships with manufacturers (some based on promises not to reuse or repair).

Say we have 25 residential collection points in the state. 80% of the tonnage is in 20% of those sites (cities like Burlington, Rutland, Brattleboro). If a manufacturer is obligated to take in 20% of the tonnage, based on market share, they will bid aggressively where that tonnage is cheapest.

Cities are cheap.
CPU scrap metal is really, really, really cheap (people actually pay for it).
Ghost tonnage (fake weights) is really, really cheap.

There will be winners, losers, and survivors. What I do NOT see is how this gets us to permanent collections in Newport and St. Albans.

Hey, just saw this from Businessweek, confirmation of what we have been reporting - MOST of the ewaste in the developing countries is home grown! Those countries are buying even more new electronics than we are. It is not an excuse to export crap, but it means that our WR3A Fair Trade approach is really needed in order to set up recycling where it hasn't been.