INDIANAPOLIS — Frustrated by inaction in Congress, a growing number of states are trying to reduce the rising tide of junked TVs, computers and other electronics that have become one of the nation's fastest-growing waste streams.

Nineteen states have passed laws requiring the recycling of old electronics, which contain both precious metals and toxic pollutants and are piling up in garages — or worse, getting dumped overseas. Thirteen other states are considering laws.

But as these state measures take effect, the electronics industry is pushing back against what it calls a hard-to-follow "patchwork."

Two trade groups, the Consumer Electronics Association and the Information Technology Industry Council, are suing New York City over its recycling law, which will make electronics manufacturers provide free collection of electronics weighing more than 15 pounds. That includes "orphan" waste made by now-defunct manufacturers.

The groups contend the law, which requires detailed paper trails documenting their recycling, will cost their member companies more than $200 million annually.

Parker Brugge, the Consumer Electronics Association's vice president of environmental affairs and industry sustainability, said the states' laws burden manufacturers with drafting state-specific recycling plans. His group would prefer a national e-waste law that sets a uniform policy and spreads the job of recycling among companies, consumers and local governments.

Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics Takeback Coalition, a group that promotes e-waste recycling, thinks manufacturers really want a national policy with less teeth than the state laws.

"They talk about how much they want a federal bill, but what they want is a weak federal bill. They don't want to have to do what the state laws are making them do," she said.

Several e-waste bills have been introduced in Congress over the years but none has passed.

In April, the House authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants promoting e-waste recycling. The Senate has not yet voted on it.

Meanwhile, the amount of e-waste grows. In 2007, Americans disposed of 2.25 million tons of TVs, computers, cell phones, fax machines, printers and scanners. That's more than twice the amount generated in 1999, according to the EPA.

Less than a fifth of e-waste overall is recycled, which allows for the copper, silver, gold and other precious metals inside to be salvaged and resold. Landfills get many of the rest of the discarded devices, which also have toxic hazards lurking inside — from lead in TVs and computer monitors with cathode-ray tubes to cadmium in rechargeable batteries.