PlayStations, power tools and more will cost Californians more due to battery recycling fee
PlayStations are among a slew of products that Californians will now have to fork out additional cash for thanks to a new electronic recycling fee that’s being rolled out.
The surcharge, which came into effect from Jan. 1, is being tacked on to the cost of any product with a non-removable battery — ranging from the popular gaming console to power tools and even singing greeting cards.
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The public will be hit with the 1.5% fee when they pay for the product.
It will be capped off at $15.
The charge is being implemented under California’s covered electronic waste recycling program, which aims to drastically reduce battery-embedded waste across the Golden State.
Some decried the California for implementing yet another tax in the notoriously expensive state.
“Is there anything in California that you don’t tax??” one person griped on X.
“California legislators are achieving greater levels of stupidity than anyone thought possible. Stupid people doin stupid things, but this is outstandingly stupid,” said another.
But supporters of the fee argue that powerful lithium batteries have become an everyday hazard at waste and recycling facilities given they can explode or spark destructive fires.
“These things are everywhere. They’re ubiquitous,” Joe La Mariana, executive director of RethinkWaste, told Cal Matters.
“Paying a small check‑stand fee to fund proper collection is far cheaper than million‑dollar fires, higher insurance premiums, and rate hikes passed back to communities,” Doug Kobold, executive director of the California Product Stewardship Council, said.
The new fee for the battery-embedded products is an expansion of the Electronic Waste Recycling Act.
It covers any product that “contains a battery that is not designed to be easily removed by the user with no more than commonly used household tools,” according to CalRecycle’s website.
Certain medical devices and single-use plastic vapes will be exempt from the new law.
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