State and Federal Regulations

Ohio State Regulations

State and Federal environmental agencies have determined that certain non-working and obsolete electronic products must be treated as hazardous waste if intended for disposal. Ohio is not one of those states... yet.

As of 2008 only 10 states (California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington) have state legislation regarding the way e-waste is disposed of. Nine of the ten state have Producer Responsibility Laws and California has Consumer Fee Laws. A total of fourteen states have legislation in process for 2008 to address the e-waste disposal issues. Ohio is not one of these states, but we stuff must follow state laws regarding CRT monitor disposal.

Federal Regulations

Under federal regulations, unwanted electronic equipment that contains a cathode ray tube (CRT) or mercury are considered hazardous waste. But these hazardous waste regulations do not apply, however, to household sources of electronics, or to "small quantity generators" - businesses that generate under 7-8 CRTs per year, because the EPA has decided to exempt them. The EPA revised the CRT rules in July 2006, but did not remove this small generator exemption. Therefore, it is perfectly legal for us to throw our electronic waste into the trash in most states. (A few states have taken action to ban e-waste.) EPA's recently revised CRT Rule.