Recycling electronics: industry's responsibility.(View point: the consumers union perspective)

If you're like many consumers, you have an old computer, cell phone, or other electronic product that you no longer need. Perhaps you are waiting to find a new home for it or to dispose of it safely, The toxic ingredients in electronic waste, as well as its sheer volume, put a heavy burden on local waste-disposal systems and ultimately the environment.

As the amount of electronic equipment has proliferated, the period of use before replacement of many products has dwindled to a few years. The result: a rising tide of waste sent to local landfills and often exported to developing countries where dismantling and disposal services are less expensive and more polluting.

Electronic waste contains a number of toxins, including lead, cadmium, and brominated flame retardant. A projected 315 million computers now headed for the trash heap will add up to more than a billion pounds of lead that could leach into groundwater from landfills or pollute the air if incinerated.

The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a nonprofit environmental group in San Jose, Calif., estimates that without legislation shifting the burden to manufacturers, it will cost governments and taxpayers some $7.5 billion over the next decade or so to collect and process old TVs and computer equipment.

In the several states that have banned computers and TVs from their landfills, many municipalities are charging consumers to collect computers for recycling.

A PATCHWORK OF OPTIONS

Maine is the first state in the nation to follow the European Union, Japan, and several other countries in shifting the costs and responsibility for computer recycling to manufacturers, in effect, forcing them to incorporate the cost into the price of a new machine. In 2006, computer and TV makers will be required to establish regional collection centers in Maine and pay the cost of recycling used equipment.