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The dark side of electronic waste recycling

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Re: The dark side of electronic waste recycling

#21

Post by Something1234 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #15
DougWebb wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, your suggestion is that the US consumer has to pay a "tacked-on fee" when they purchase a recyclable product. That fee, presumably, is held by the US government. In other words, it's a sales tax. When the consumer wants to get rid of the product, they can just throw it out and send it to a landfill. If they do, the fee is kept by the government. Or, the consumer can get the product to a recycling company, somehow…

Everything you mentioned as possible public policy is done for the benefit of the environment and the people who live in it, not shortsighted consumers. You’re not paying for it because it’s good for you, but because it harms others.

Well people act in their own self interest, so how do you propose that people go about implementing to encourage the lazy consume to take part?

GP makes a very valid point, and I don't know why they are being downvoted. It's basic game theory.

Maybe if the fee was given back to the consumer or split between them it might work. Like how bottle deposits used to work.

Re: The dark side of electronic waste recycling

#22

Post by toomuchtodo »

Something1234 wrote: post #21
toomuchtodo wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything you mentioned as possible public policy is done for the benefit of the environment and the people who live in it, not shortsighted consumers. You’re not paying for it because it’s good for you, but because it harms others.

Well people act in their own self interest, so how do you propose that people go about implementing to encourage the lazy consume to take part? GP makes a very valid point, and I don't know why they are being downvoted. It's basic game theory. Maybe if the fee was given back to the consumer or split between them it might work. Like how bottle deposits used to work.

> so how do you propose that people go about implementing to encourage the lazy consume to take part?

Government regulation. In one of the states I reside in, electronics recycling is mandatory (and collection points, numerous and easily available). E-waste is prohibited from entering the traditional landfill waste stream, and there are fines (economic incentives!) for doing so. How else would you address lazy or selfish humans? It's why we have laws prohibiting littering, for example.

We could go further of course; perhaps partner with USPS so that collection could even happen at the curb daily (similar to Stitchfix's arrangement with USPS leveraging their processing stream for logistics). Even if you make it incredibly simple, some people will still complain. C'est la vie.

Re: The dark side of electronic waste recycling

#23

Post by wavefunction »

howmayiannoyyou wrote: post #2

Not defending Total Reclaim's misrepresentation BUT.... the market for many recyclable commodities is insufficient to justify processing expense in the US. Why? Two reasons. First, there's little manufacturing capacity remaining in North America to utilize many (not all) recyclable commodities. Second, subsidies and currency manipulation continue to dump virgin commodities and new products into the US. This is not a…

When I recycle electronics they charge me some fiat currency up-front so you'd be right that I expect the service I've paid for.

About to recycle some electronics from my employer who thought it would be acceptable to dump this stuff on the local Goodwill who can't afford to pay to recycle things they can't re-sell.

Re: The dark side of electronic waste recycling

#24

Post by ljm »

> Total Reclaim grew into a fixture in the community, and in the process, Puckett and Lorch grew close. Puckett says he took Lorch’s advice on issues, brought Total Reclaim into internal meetings, and if a reporter interested in e-waste dropped in, he’d offer them Total Reclaim as an example of how to do e-waste recycling the right way.

This sounds like an example of being a poor regulator and then being captured by it. A regulator or an entity holding businesses to account should have no involvement in promoting or marketing their industry's best/favoured product.

Pockett fucked up by trusting this business instead of bolstering the local regulatory framework. So he promoted a monopoly on ethical recycling with his 'friend''s firm instead of pushing to legislate. And then he acts upset because this business acted in favour of money and not his personal ethics.

Separation of Corp and State should be equally as vital and constitutional as separation of Church and State.

Re: The dark side of electronic waste recycling

#26

Post by chillwaves »

DougWebb wrote: post #14
crazygringo wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly it. There's no reason we need to be held hostage to China's lack of environmental concern. When a device is imported from China or manufactured domestically, a fee is tacked on that includes the price of recycling processing. Congress just has to pass a law, period. Then recycling companies demonstrate responsible recycling and recover the fees. Fees are set per-product in order to ensure they are ult…

So, your suggestion is that the US consumer has to pay a "tacked-on fee" when they purchase a recyclable product. That fee, presumably, is held by the US government. In other words, it's a sales tax. When the consumer wants to get rid of the product, they can just throw it out and send it to a landfill. If they do, the fee is kept by the government. Or, the consumer can get the product to a recycling company, somehow…

> That suggests Congress would probably love the idea.

If that were true the law would already be in place.

The economic benefit for consumers is not destroying the ability of the planet to sustain life.

Re: The dark side of electronic waste recycling

#29

Post by destitude »

Shouldn't one of the solutions be for manufacturers to make the products easier to recycle to begin with and/or use safer materials in the construction? Even at a higher level I think it would help if we had e-products that end-users could repair easier. Apple touts how environmental they are but then make it nearly impossible to do something as simple as replace a battery in a Macbook for instance.

Re: The dark side of electronic waste recycling

#30

Post by baroffoos »

destitude wrote: post #29

Shouldn't one of the solutions be for manufacturers to make the products easier to recycle to begin with and/or use safer materials in the construction? Even at a higher level I think it would help if we had e-products that end-users could repair easier. Apple touts how environmental they are but then make it nearly impossible to do something as simple as replace a battery in a Macbook for instance.

Its corporate green washing. Companies know that customers generally feel some amount of guilt over the products they purchase due to the environmental impact of them so they get the marketing teams to find some way to ease that guilt without actually doing much at all.

Recycling has mostly been a global scale PR move to make people think they can buy as much product as they want and its ok because it gets turned in to new products after. What most people don't understand is while many things can be recycled, most things aren't. And most of the time recycling is actually downcycling. The product gets turned in to a lower form of material and after that its garbage.

Its also a method to turn the blame around. Environmental damage isn't the corporations fault. Its your fault for not recycling enough even though the recycling centers have just shipped it off to the 3rd world to be burned.

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