Posted on 05/28/2007 3:22:53 PM PDT by SmithL
Call it a burial plan for your personal computer.
Proposed legislation would expand the notion of paying for the demise of your new computer before you make the first keystroke.
Several years ago, California tacked a $6 to $10 fee on the sale of computer monitors to bolster recycling efforts.
Now the target is the computer's innards -- its central processing unit, or "tower," that interprets instructions and handles data.
Assembly Bill 1535 would charge a $6 fee on each of the millions of computer processing units sold in California each year.
Disposal fees could be a wave of the future, with environmentalists eyeing similar charges for scanners, printers and fax machines.
Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said consumers are becoming increasingly aware of health dangers posed by toxic waste. Lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals in many electronics products have been linked to cancer, kidney and other health problems.
"More and more, we're starting to connect these global environmental problems with the choices that we make as consumers and businesses," said Huffman, who crafted AB 1535.
The disposal fee is designed to bolster the number of recyclers accepting personal computers, which are classified as hazardous waste.
"It's illegal to throw them away, but you can't conveniently recycle them," Huffman said.
Critics counter that government intervention is unnecessary because recycling computer circuit boards, metals and wiring already is profitable.
"Recyclers are jumping over themselves to get this material," said Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton. "Why hurt consumers for something that's already happening?"
David Wolfe of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association agreed.
"Why are we increasing government when private industry has done the job?" Wolfe asked. "It doesn't make sense to me."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
It depends on the manufacturer. But most LCD-based systems these day have very little, if any, "hazardous" materials. Lead is pretty much gone from consumer PCs, even from the motherboards, and the plastics are mostly free of some nasty chemicals formerly used. Mercury will drop to nothing when LED-based LCDs take over the market (there's trace mercury in the backlighting now).
Of course the question is, if you donate your three-year-old PC to the local library or school (a government institution), do you get your money back? Didn't think so.
No. We are on the honor system.
I had an old 24+" (can't remember exactly) monitor that could probably do some serious damage. The thing weighed well over 100 lbs.
For those who are not computer-savvy, not even computer-literate, please always remember:
CPU(central processing unit) != tower
“Critics counter that government intervention is unnecessary because recycling computer circuit boards, metals and wiring already is profitable.”
It’s not about the money. It’s about exerting power over the peons.
Yes. And assault police too.
Right Rodney?
If it's taxed raise the taxes.
If it moves out of state, raise the taxes on everything else to compensate for the loss of revenue...
Just dump it in a neighbor’s trash. Pick one you really don’t like. I pay more than my fair share of taxes and I no longer give a damn about all these made up causes, including global warming and landfill usage.
I guess... don’t really remember!
Tax ‘em twice if they stay headquartered in the Good Ol’ USofA, tax ‘em only once if they become one of them there furren companies, then excoriate them for moving...
Because of the RoHS directive (EU), California’s SB20, and China’s RoHS equivalent, lead free circuit boards are being mandated in an increasing number of markets. There are already some boards out that are lead free, and you can tell because the circuit traces look tarnished and dull (oxidation?). CRTs mimimized the toxicity of phosphor coatings a while ago, but still have leaded glass, and barium. The transformers in computers have arsenic, and some of the switches have mercury.
The only stat I could come up with on a quick web search said that only 14-15% of computers are recycled, and the rest are put in landfill or incinerated. Clearly local government, private industry, small business and personal computer buyers have failed at protecting the environment and water table from contamination by these systems. While I’m pretty sure pre-taxing computers for disposal is not going to do much to address the issue, I’d like to see some positive steps taken to at least label the toxic elements of these systems.
B.
You can avoid all those costly dumping fees by just tossing all your batteries and e-waste in the local reservoir.
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