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Regular Session, 2012 ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 83
BY SENATOR WALSWORTH
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Department of Environmental Quality to study the establishment of
a recycling and collection system for electronic waste in Louisiana and report its
findings to the legislature.
WHEREAS, the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimated that in
2007, domestic consumers and businesses discarded televisions, computers, cell phones, and
hard copy peripherals such as printers, scanners, and faxes in amounts totaling two million
two hundred fifty thousand tons; and
WHEREAS, eighty-two percent of these discarded electronics were disposed of in
domestic landfills or shipped to developing countries where it was, in most instances,
improperly disposed of; and
WHEREAS, twenty-six states, as of 2011, had passed legislation mandating that
statewide electronic waste collection and recycling systems be implemented, and some states
banned the dumping of such waste in landfills; and
WHEREAS, the costs of collection and recycling of electronic wastes in many states
is born by producers and manufacturers, while other states place the responsibility on
consumers; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana, like nearly half of the nation, currently has no system in
place for collection and recycling of electronic wastes and has no laws prohibiting the
dumping of electronic wastes in landfills; and
WHEREAS, the issue of electronic waste and its disposal has exploded because of
the revolution in technology and many advances in audio, visual, computing, and
communications equipment.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby urge and request the Department of Environmental Quality to research and
study the establishment of a recycling and collection system for electronic wastes in
Louisiana, to determine how the costs of such a system should be funded, and to study the
feasibility of banning the dumping of electronic wastes in landfills. SR NO. 83 ENROLLED
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department shall report its findings to the
legislature on or before March 1, 2013.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE