(Sacramento, CA) Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley/Richmond) will introduce legislation mandating that a postage-paid return mailer be included with CDs mailed unsolicited to individuals by profit-making entities. “Trashing high-grade plastic that can be reclaimed and converted into useful products is NOT the message for the 21st century,” stated Hancock. The bill also mandates a postage-paid return mailer be included with EZ-Ds, a 48-hour self-erasing DVD, soon to be on sale in local super markets and video stores. The bill reconfirms California’s strong commitment to recycle and reuse consumer goods by reducing the resources and energy consumed in the manufacturing process and reducing the amount of trash going to landfills.
Two El Cerrito residents, James McKenna and John Lieberman have collected CDs from disgruntled recipients for several years. To date, they have nearly 300,000 AOL CDs and plan to deliver the CDs to the AOL headquarters when they reach one million.
To illustrate the problem, on Thursday morning in El Cerrito they will load two trucks with part of their sizable collection and drive to the Capitol. Upon arrival their CD collection will be dumped onto the north steps of the Capitol where Assemblywoman Hancock will discuss the proposed legislation. High-grade plastic can be reclaimed and converted into dashboards for example. But they are recycled only when large numbers can be collected. Recycling options currently available for consumers are inconvenient and expensive; the person with the CD/DVD must pay postage to return the discs to AOL or a CD/DVD recycler. This bill will cause the CD sender to pay for its recycling.
WHO: Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (in Sacramento only)
James McKenna and John Lieberman, El Cerrito residents
and the founders of NOMOREAOLCDS.com
Jessica Fiedor, Californians Against Waste (in Sacramento only)
WHEN & Thursday, April 15, 2004
WHERE: 8:30 am -- Loading the trucks, 1601 Navallier St., El Cerrito
Noon -- Dumping the CDs, North steps of the Capitol, Sacramento
WHAT: Discuss the merits of AB 2166 that will be heard on Monday, April 19, 2004,
in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee