Stay on top of green fees for recycling electronics

Many provinces have individual programs in place for recycling electronics. It is often called an "Environmental Handling Fee". Quebec is the latest province to add the fee when purchasing electronics. The items that are covered by the program vary slightly from province to province, based on what devices are recycled by the provincial recycling facilities. Read full story

Who has to pay for recycling fees?

Many provinces have individual programs in place for recycling electronics. It is often called an "Environmental Handling Fee". The items that are covered by the program vary slightly from province to province, based on what devices are recycled by the provincial recycling facilities. Here's a breakdown of what consumers in each province have to pay:

British Columbia
Recycling fees in B.C. range from as little as $0.40 for small peripherals to $45 for a television 46-inches or larger. Items including answering machines and home theatres are also covered under the B.C. program; visit this link for a full list of items that are covered and their associated costs.

Alberta
Recently, the fees for the disposal of televisions and monitors went up in Alberta. Consumers will now pay $4 for a screen less than 30 inches and $10 for a screen larger than that.

Purchasing a new CPU or server in Alberta will cost an extra $4.40 to cover the disposal (including keyboard, mouse, cables and speakers), $4.80 for printers and printer combos, and $1.20 for laptops, notebooks and tablets.

Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan Waste Electronic Equipment Program (SWEEP) controls the fees for the province, which covers computers and computer displays and televisions, with associated fees ranging from $3 for portable computers to $23.25 for display devices larger than 29 inches. It also adds a small fee to the purchase of computer mice and keyboards, telephones and answering machines, audio and video equipment and printing, copying and multi-function devices.

Manitoba
Beginning this past August, Manitoba residents also started paying a recycling fee at purchase of electronics. The program covers televisions for about $9-$23, depending on size, audio/video equipment, home theatres, computers, printers and all-in-one machines, and microwave ovens. Visit the Electronic Products Recycling Association Manitoba website for more details.

Ontario
As with other provinces, the biggest fee for recycling electronics in Ontario is on display devices — $11 for 29 inches or smaller, and $25 for larger sizes. All other devices will only be a couple of dollars at most, while only a penny is added to recycle cellular devices. You can see the full list of fees here.

Quebec
In the latest province to get the recycling fee, consumers will now have to pay at least $40 on top of the cost of their product. Telecommunications company Videotron, however, has announced that it will be covering the cost of the fee for its customers.

Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island
The fee in both provinces is administered by the Electronic Products Recycling Association, which is probably why the fees are the same in both. Large televisions have an extra $40 EHF, while those under 30inches have a $11.50 fee. You can also recycle printers, audio and video systems, home theaters, non-cellular telephones and vehicle audio/video systems in these provinces, with fees ranging from a couple of bucks to less than a dollar.

Who doesn't have to pay recycling fees on electronics?
Currently, there are no regulations in place to charge consumers the green fee in New Brunswick or Newfoundland.

See original article by Tori Floyd at Yahoo!