Connecticut Deadline Looms on E-Waste Market Share Data

CE manufacturers have only until Wednesday to “rebut” in writing Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection market share “determinations” for the state’s new e-waste program that begins in January, the department said. Under state rules that took effect June 1, the department’s market share determinations are “presumed to be correct unless a manufacturer submits information rebutting this determination,” the department said.

Accurate market share data for covered electronic devices (CEDs) are crucial to the program’s operation because the department will use them to calculate how much manufacturers must pay the state in annual registration fees and what state-authorized recyclers may charge manufacturers for hauling e-waste from municipal collection sites. “A manufacturer seeking to rebut this determination, for itself or for any other manufacturer, shall submit rebuttal information in writing that must include the number of units sold for the type of CED in question based upon nationally available data, retail sales data, consumer surveys or other nationally available data, the source of any such information and all supporting documents,” the department said.

Connecticut used 2009 sales surveys from IDC Research, iSuppli and the National Center for Electronics Recycling as its “primary sources” to compute the market share determinations, the department said. The determinations will be good for one year, the department said. In printers, based on 20.2 million units shipped, it ranked Hewlett-Packard in first place with a 59.67 percent share, followed by Canon (16.1 percent), Lexmark (7.65 percent), Epson (6.88 percent) and Kodak (5.13 percent).

In TVs, based on 35.3 million sets sold, Samsung was given the top share at 18.6 percent, followed by Vizio (16.92 percent), “Funai brands” (10.78 percent), Sony (10.42 percent) and Best Buy’s Dynex and Insignia house brands (9.49 percent). Fifty TV brands qualify for “de minimis” treatment, the department said. In computers, based on 37.9 million units sold, HP was at the top with 29.44 percent, followed by Dell (17.99 percent), Acer (13.14 percent), Toshiba (10.75 percent) and Apple (9.86 percent).