CEA, ITI Settle Their E-Waste Lawsuit Against New York City

A month to the day after New York Gov. David Paterson signed his state’s e-waste measure into law, CEA and the ITI Council said Monday they settled their e-waste lawsuit against New York City and its co-defendant, the Natural Resources Defense Council. CEA and ITI filed their lawsuit last July 24 seeking a preliminary injunction blocking the New York City e-waste program from taking effect and a declaration from the court that the program’s direct collection requirement was unconstitutional.

The state e-waste law “now vests authority over collection and recycling of used electronics exclusively in the state,” said an order signed by U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan, dismissing the case. The state measure “expressly preempts any local law or ordinance, or any rule or regulation promulgated thereto, governing covered electronic equipment and the collection, reuse, or recycling of used electronics, including, therefore, the City E-Waste Program in its entirety,” said the order. Though green groups immediately hailed enactment of the statewide measure as rendering the New York City program and the lawsuit to stop it as moot, Monday’s order was the first time CEA and ITI acknowledged that publicly. The state measure lacks the direct collection requirement that the city Sanitation Department wrote into its final rules, sparking the lawsuit.

In recent settlement talks, CEA and ITI worked with the city and the NRDC “to identify potential public and private collection site for used electronic equipment that could support an effective, efficient, and flexible collection system in New York City without requiring free direct collection of used electronics from residences,” the order said. In settling the lawsuit, the parties have agreed “that continuing to work together to develop an accessible system to collect used electronics for New York City residents is beneficial and valuable for all,” it said. They'll “continue to meet to discuss how best to collect used electronics for reuse or recycling from New York City residents, including identifying potential collection sites,” it said.

In a joint statement, CEA and ITI said they're pleased the court has approved the settlement. They and their members “remain committed to implementing innovative electronics recycling in partnership with state governments and other stakeholders,” they said. The city’s “flawed program has now been completely preempted by state law, and there is no longer any need for the lawsuit,” they said. The lawsuit “achieved our objective” of preventing “the implementation of an excessively burdensome local recycling program that would have imposed unprecedented economic costs on electronics manufacturers and consumers alike and would have forced City residents to suffer increased truck traffic and noise and air pollution,” they said. The settlement talks “were also successful in producing an understanding that free direct collection of used electronics from residences is not a necessary component of a viable solution for collecting used electronics in the City,” they said. A CEA spokeswoman said she wasn’t free to comment on the confidential settlement talks, including the specifics discussed of identifying potential collection sites. The NRDC didn’t respond right away to a request for comment on the settlement.