Code of Maine Rules
06 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
096 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION - GENERAL
Chapter 415 - REASONABLE COSTS FOR HANDLING, TRANSPORTATION, AND RECYCLING OF ELECTRONIC WASTES
Appendix 096-415-A - Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Guidelines for the Environmentally Sound Management of Electronic Waste
Pursuant to 38 M.R.S. §1610(5)(C), the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (the Department) has developed the following guidelines for recycling and dismantling facilities engaged in the handling, processing, refurbishment and recycling of covered electronic devices from covered entities as these terms are defined in this Chapter. These guidelines provide a framework for environmentally sound management of these wastes. Consolidators operating in Maine may not transport covered electronic devices to a recycling or dismantling facility unless the facility has provided a sworn certification to the consolidator that the facility substantially meets these guidelines, or the facility has a current R2 or e-Stewards certification.
1. The facility must comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations, specifically as relating to the handling, processing, refurbishment and recycling of covered electronic devices, and must possess proper authorization by all appropriate governing authorities to perform such handling, processing, refurbishment and recycling.
2. The facility must implement appropriate measures to safeguard occupational and environmental health and safety, through the following:
a. Environmental health & safety (EH& S;) training of personnel, including training with regard to material and equipment handling, worker exposure to hazardous materials, controlling releases of pollutants, and safety and emergency procedures;
b. An up-to-date, written hazardous materials identification and management plan;
c. An up-to-date, written plan for reporting and responding to pollutant releases, including emergencies such as accidents, spills, fires, and explosions;
d. Maintenance of Commercial General Liability Insurance or equivalent corporate guarantee for accidents and other emergencies with limits of not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate. Additionally, maintenance of Pollution Legal Liability Insurance with a limit of not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence for companies engaged solely in dismantling activities and $5,000,000 per occurrence for companies engaged in processing of recyclable materials;
e. Documentation that an EH& S; audit is completed and certified by a competent internal or external auditor on a periodic basis (generally annually). A competent auditor is an individual who through professional training and/or work experience is appropriately qualified to evaluate the EH& S; conditions, practices, and procedures at the facility. Documentation of the auditor's qualifications must be available for inspection by government officials and third party auditors; and
f. The facility must maintain on file proof of procurement of workers' compensation/employers' liability insurance.
3. The facility must have adequate financial assurance (e.g. bonds, corporate guarantee) to cover environmental and other costs of the closure of its facility, including the cleanup of stockpiled equipment and materials.
4. The facility must apply due diligence principles to selection of facilities to which components and materials (e.g. plastics, metals, circuit boards, CRTs) from covered electronic devices are sent for reuse and recycling.
5. The facility must establish a documented environmental management system, appropriate in level of detail and documentation to the scale and function of the facility, including documented regular self-audits and/or inspections of its environmental compliance.
6. The facility must use appropriate equipment for proper processing of incoming materials as well as controlling environmental releases. The facility must manage all materials to minimize adverse exposures to workers and releases to the environment. Dismantling operations and storage of electronics or components of electronics that contain hazardous substances must be conducted indoors over impervious floors. Storage areas must be adequate to hold all processed and unprocessed inventory. When heat is used to soften solder and when electronics or components thereof are shredded, operations must be designed to control indoor and outdoor hazardous air emissions.
7. The facility must establish a system for identifying and properly managing components that are removed from covered electronic devices during disassembly and that, if waste, may be hazardous (e.g. circuit boards, batteries, CRTs, mercury phosphor lamps, etc.). The facility must properly manage all hazardous components and other components requiring special handling from covered electronic devices in a manner consistent with relevant federal, state, and local regulations. The facility must provide visible tracking (such as hazardous waste manifests or Bills of Lading) of hazardous components and materials from the facility to the destination facilities, and documentation (such as contracts) stating how the destination facility processes materials received. The facility must not send, either directly or through intermediaries, hazardous wastes to solid waste (non-hazardous waste) landfills or to non-hazardous waste incinerators for disposal or energy recovery. For the purposes of these guidelines, smelting of hazardous wastes to recover metals for reuse in conformance with all applicable laws and regulations is not considered disposal or energy recovery.
8. The facility must use a regularly implemented and documented monitoring and record keeping program that tracks inbound material weights (total) and outbound material weights (total to each destination), injury and illness rates, and compliance with applicable permit parameters including monitoring of effluents and emissions. The facility must maintain contracts or other documents, such as sales receipts, sufficient to demonstrate: (a) a reasonable expectation that there is a downstream market or use for designated electronics (such uses may include recycling and/or reclamation processes such as smelting to recover metals for reuse); and (b) that any residual materials from recycling and/or reclamation processes are properly handled and managed to maximize reuse and recycling of materials to the extent practicable.
On an annual basis, the facility must provide a statement to consolidators operating in Maine that ship covered electronic devices to the facility that includes a description of how the electronics are recycled, a listing of facilities to which it ships materials for recycling, and the following data:
* percentage of each covered electronic device type that is sent for reuse;
* percentage of components recovered for reuse;
* percentage of materials recycled by type of material;
* residual rates by material; and
* fate of materials not recycled.
The facility may calculate these numbers based on the total electronic waste stream handled by the facility. The facility must maintain on file these statements to consolidators for a minimum of 3 years for inspection by government officials and relevant auditors.
9. The facility must comply with federal and international law and agreements regarding the export of used products or materials. In the case of export of televisions, computer monitors and CPUs, this includes compliance with applicable requirements of the United States of America and of the import and transit countries, and maintenance of proper business records documenting such compliance. The facility agrees not to establish or utilize intermediaries for the purpose of circumventing these U.S., import, and transit country requirements.
For transactions that involve the transboundary shipment of used televisions and computer monitors, the facility must conduct those transactions based on contracts (or equivalent commercial arrangements) made in advance that detail the quantity and nature of the materials to be shipped. For the export of materials to a foreign country (directly or indirectly through downstream market contractors):
* Shipment of intact televisions and computer monitors destined for reuse must include only whole products, tested and certified as being in working order or requiring only minor repair (e.g., not requiring replacement of circuit boards or CRTs), that are destined for reuse with respect to their original purpose, where the recipient has verified a market for the sale or donation of such products for reuse; and
* Shipments of televisions and computer monitors for materials recovery must be prepared in a manner appropriate for processing, including smelting where metals will be recovered, plastics recovery, and glass-to-glass recycling.
The facility must maintain the following export records on file for a minimum of three years:
a. destinations (including facility name and address) to which shipments are exported;
b. shipment contents and weights;
c. intended use of contents by the destination facilities;
d. specifications required by the destination facilities in relation to shipment contents; and
e. assurance that all shipments for export are legal and satisfy all applicable laws in the destination countries.
