The newly expanded e-scrap recycling program signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom will not include vaping products. AB 2440 and SB 1215 set up an extended producer responsibility program for loose batteries and added battery-embedded products to the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003.
Newsom signed the bills Sept. 16 as part of a package of climate-related bills, according to Resource Recycling.
Under SB 1215, consumers will be required to pay an electronic waste recycling fee upon the purchase of certain new or refurbished products starting Jan. 1, 2026. However, a covered battery-embedded product is one containing a battery “that is not intended to be easily removed from the product by the consumer with no more than commonly used household tools,” the bill’s text states, excluding medical devices, energy storage systems and electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products.
“This month has been a wake-up call for all of us that later is too late to act on climate change. California isn’t waiting any more,” Newsom said in the press release. “Together with the Legislature, California is taking the most aggressive action on climate our nation has ever seen.”