The next honking big wide-screen plasma television you buy could put a bigger hole in the family budget, now that electronics recycling fees are set to go into effect in Nova Scotia early next year.

The Resource Recovery Fund Board unveiled details of the electronics recycling plan in a call for public input that went out Thursday.

Consumers will pay a $5 to $45 environmental handling fee on purchases of electronics after Feb. 1. The fee will apply to most electronic gadgets of any size.

"After that date, electronic waste will be banned from our landfills," Catherine McCarthy, spokeswoman for the Resource Recovery Fund Board, said Thursday.

The province approved the strict guidelines earlier this year.

Businesses are accepting the arrangement but plan to watch it closely, said Leanne Hachey of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business in Halifax.

"The devil will be in the details," she said. "This version of the regulations has been tweaked from the version that originally had small business concerned, but it will still require regular review."

The Resource Recovery Fund Board is working out the details of a system that will allow businesses and consumers across the province to drop off their unwanted televisions, computers, monitors and printers at selected collection sites free of charge...

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