Vizio has sued the head of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection over an e-scrap law it says unfairly burdens the TV manufacturer.

In a lawsuit filed on June 17 against the commissioner of Connecticut DEEP, Robert Klee, Vizio alleges the state's e-scrap law "is so deeply flawed and unfair that it threatens Vizio's ability to innovate and competitively price its products for consumers."

Dell experienced a year-over-year decline in e-scrap collections last year, but the company still expects to achieve its goal of taking back 1 million tons of electronics by 2020.

That's according to the company's 2015 corporate social responsibility report, which covered the period from February 2014 through January 2015.

The recovery rate for consumer electronics in the U.S. jumped sharply in 2013, but it's unclear whether more robust data accounts for the uptick, a newly released U.S. EPA report states.

The rate was 40.4 percent in 2013, up from 30.6 percent in 2012, according to the report. The municipal solid waste stream included 3.14 million tons of selected consumer electronics in 2013, of which 1.27 million tons were recovered.

Federal officials have allayed concerns that an executive order regarding environmentally friendly electronics purchasing will erode use of the EPEAT program.

President Obama's March 2015 executive order on sustainable-product purchasing excluded an explicit requirement that federal agencies give purchasing preference to electronics meeting the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) standards.

Legislation in play in New Jersey would provoke an overhaul of the state's e-scrap program and offer an easing of state requirements for mobile hard drive shredding. Senate Bill 2973 would likely increase original equipment manufacturer recycling targets, and SB 2978 would allow mobile hard drive shredders to operate without a state permit.

E-scrap firms processed slightly more CRT glass from Washington state in 2014 than they did the year before, according to a report.

Processors handled 10,666 tons of CRT glass in 2014, up 1.3 percent from the CRT weight processed in 2013, according to the annual report by the Washington Materials Management and Financing Authority (WMMFA), the electronics manufacturer-funded group coordinating collections and recycling under Washington's E-Cycle program.

The leader of California e-scrap recycling company E-World Recyclers has been indicted in a federal court on charges of trafficking government-seized counterfeit material and altering contract documents. The case, first publicized by watchdog group Basel Action Network, has a number of industry touchpoints and is loaded with complications, including the very plea the executive gave before the court when he was charged last winter.

E-World CEO Robert Erie, 51, was indicted in San Diego on Dec. 18, 2014 in the U.S.

Illinois is set to put a legislative Band-Aid on the state's e-scrap program, requiring electronics manufacturers to collect and recycle more material in coming years. Passed unanimously by both the state House of Representatives and Senate, HB 1455 would require manufacturers to collect and recycle a combined 23,300 tons of e-scrap in 2015 and 24,800 tons in 2016 and 2017. That's up from the 21,102 tons they

Bulk unlocking of cellphone and tablets for resale does not violate copyright law and should continue to be allowed, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries told the U.S.

Illinois legislators have unanimously passed a bill that, if signed into law, would count leaded CRT glass stored at a designated landfill cell toward manufacturer recycling goals.

After passing the House in April by a vote of 114-0, the Illinois Senate on Tuesday passed the measure 53-0. The bill now needs Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature to become law.