Wireless customers typically swap out new cellphones about every 18 months and, starting today, new state laws require retailers to help keep all those used handsets and accessories out of landfills.
Sure, the phones are small, but put a million of them in a dump and you'll have a hazardous waste site.
Californians replaced 13 million handsets in 2004, the last year for which numbers are available. Only a small fraction were recycled.
The laws that take effect today, following up on a recent one that makes it illegal to toss cellphones in the trash, require retailers to offer recycling services so customers -- at no cost -- can drop off their old phones, rechargeable batteries and other accessories.
It's the latest effort to keep the rapidly growing pile of obsolete electronics out of landfills, where certain metals, plastics, acids and other hazardous materials can quickly turn an area into a toxic dump.
"Requiring electronics retailers to take back obsolete cellphones and rechargeable batteries will provide consumers with a much-needed recycling opportunity," said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, a nonprofit public interest group that supported the laws.
Civil penalties are severe, though the maximum isn't likely to be imposed. Cellphone users, stores owners or others who throw handsets into ordinary trash face fines of as much as $25,000 under a law effective in February. Retailers that don't have a recycling plan or don't comply with the law could be barred from selling handsets.
The laws, sponsored by Assemblywoman Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), were passed in August 2004, but legislators heeded pleas of retailers for time to set up recycling plans. So the effective date for taking in cellphones was put off until today.
With more than 215 million cellphone users nationwide and new technology making current phones obsolete quickly, sales of handsets is a big business. Worldwide, analysts expect 1 billion handsets to be shipped this year. Most are to replace old phones.
But old handsets can gain new lives.
"If you're not using it anymore, that phone can provide value for somebody else," said Mike Newman, vice president of sales for ReCellular Inc., the nation's largest cellphone recycler. "There's no reason for it to sit in a closet and gather dust."
