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Connecticut proposes insane regulation on manufacturers


beerbeer

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I know it seems like I'm piling on but this has to stop. Connecticut in the only state in the union proposing this law. The following is excerpted from the Hartford Biz Journal.

Connecticut is poised to become the first state to legislate the recycling of mattresses at the very moment a survey ranks the state 44th in business climate.

News reports trace the origin of the recycling legislation to a City of Hartford official faced with signing off on more than $400,000 a year to dispose of mattresses dumped into the city’s trash collection system. So she decided it was only fair to find somebody else to pay the tab and, naturally, she turned her eye toward business. And just as naturally, the legislature piled on

The basic logic is that if you built the product, you’re responsible for it cradle to grave.

By embracing extended producer responsibility Connecticut is firing a poorly aimed shot across the bow of all manufacturers. First it was tires and e-waste, now mattresses. Where does it stop?

If you think about the logical extensions of that doctrine, the world as we know it ends. Is Pratt & Whitney responsible for retrieving and recycling all its engines? Is the candymaker responsible when the wrapper becomes litter or is that the papermaker’s problem? Where does it end?

Somewhere the responsibility of the individual user has been lost in a nanny-state fantasy that business is responsible for all ills.

Last year, Connecticut became the first state to mandate paid sick leave. This year, we’re flirting with hiking the minimum wage and opening the Pandora’s box of extended producer responsibility. These are not places where we want to be No. 1.

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I hate to be lured into comment like this, but there seems to be a pretty huge leap of faith here.

first this is an op ed piece in the HBJ, not actual journalism, second, its one hell of an assumption to say "today mattresses tomorrow jet engines"

while I think cradle to grave responsibility is a little extreme, it also has some merit. If manufacturers were left to their own devices they could/would use materials that have a long lasting negative impact on the world around us, simply because they would no longer be responsable the minute their product shipped. Think of the chinese drywall or baby formulae filled with chemicals...

Lets not get crazy with the rhetoric...

according to other news sources(not op ed pieces)

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/05/03/connecticut-moves-to-institute-mattress-recycling/

the problem is more about finding a solution as partners.

10,000 mattersses are illegally dumped and abandoned each year likely due the cost of disposal (I think about 40 bucks each last time I did it)

so, the state has to go around and pick this "litter" up at a cost to the state of about 1.2 million each year. We the tax payers are fitting that bill.

and according to the article I linked

“The industry really took responsibility here. I negotiated this bill with them,” said Meyer

So, really? a co-negotiated matterss bill is going to scare UTC away?

not a good enough source for ya?

http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/550954-ISPA_commends_Connecticut_for_mattress_recycling_compromise.php

how about an industry publication

"The International Sleep Products Assn. is commending the Connecticut Senate for reaching a compromise on legislation that would create a used mattress recycling program.

But ISPA said it still believes a national approach is the best way to tackle the recycling issue."

they want this to go national....

so lets just say that you guys are getting all flustered over nothing!

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