PC recycling: Here's what we should do...

Last week we addressed the issue of PC recycling. It seems everybody knows it needs to be done - with millions of obsolete boxes ending up in landfill sites each year - but 'how?' is the question yet to be answered.

Below is some of the feedback we received about our coverage.

A tax on the sale of such items
From Stuart Wright The problem appears to be similar to the safe disposal of fridges and freezers, in which to solve the potential problem of illegal dumping, the local council handles the disposal of these items. A combination of the government and local councils would be needed to handle the disposal, with money for the disposal coming from a tax on the sales of these items. The tax would have to take into account the toxin levels of the items and their expected disposal costs. This cost is then passed onto consumers of the equipment, and manufactures who produce less toxic and more easily disposable products would benefit with having a cheaper product.

The owner should be responsible
From Rob Brady I think the owner should be responsible - but the local council should make it an easy process and it will take time and education to succeed. People are happy to use bottle banks and paper collection type services and they feel they are contributing to the environment. But it didn't happen instantly or it didn't happen by making laws. People will eventually want to do the right thing and when the urge comes, the council must be ready to provide the service, e.g. at the local tip or collection service.

How to pay for it...
From Geoff Harrison By all means encourage manufacturers to make their goods easier to recycle, but there seems to me little point in making the manufacturer responsible for their disposal. While at first glance, it may seem the logical route, this fails to consider one important point - unless you bought from a "big name" (HP, IBM, DELL, etc) the manufacturer may not be there in five years time when your beloved, but now out of date, PC finally gives up the ghost. Then what?

The computer business is full of companies which come from nowhere, flourish for a while - and then disappear. For example, what do all the people who bought DAN computers do when their machines come to the end of their lives? Likewise, those who built their machines from components or upgraded a machine piecemeal to the point that the only "original" parts are the power supply, case and nameplate?

No, what is needed is an arrangement so that consumers can safely dispose of their old machines as they can do with other appliances like fridges (and yes, I know that there are piles of fridges waiting to be disposed of because some bright European spark brought in a recycling law before there were the facilities to do the recycling). The problem here is that if you make anything more than a nominal charge for disposal, people will just dump them (also like fridges).

Commercially, things are a little easier, as there is already a precedent for charging for the disposal of commercial/industrial waste. Even here, however, you cannot rely on the original manufacturer being around when you need to dispose of old hardware. Big companies often buy from "big names" but the many thousands of smaller companies often buy from the same smaller (and cheaper) suppliers that are used by the consumer market - with the same resulting problems.

As we become increasingly environmentally conscious, there surely must be opportunities for entrepreneurs to get into the recycling of PCs, printers, TVs, VCRs, hi-hi equipment.

How to pay for it? Well, it seems obvious that, at least in the consumer market, this has to be levied in some way that cannot be avoided. A direct disposal charge at the end of the product's life will just encourage people to dump them. As far as I can see, it has to be done at the point of sale (a levy on the sale price) so that people can't buy the product unless they provide for its disposal, or as part of something like council tax. Commercially it's easier to charge at the point of disposal, but even here, it's probably safer to make the disposal charge part of the sale price.

Manufacturers need to play their part
From Bob Robinson The most efficient way would be to make local councils responsible. The reason is simple they are already geared up to do it. They get the benefits of scale and the specialist knowledge.

Manufacturers need to play their part. All products supplied to consumers or business must be clearly marked for recycling and all manufacturers and importers should pay recycling tax on all products.

Perhaps each product would have to be assessed before being sold in this country and then given a tax code. An alternative would be for a UK manufacturer to be assessed each year on its "green" performance and taxed accordingly. Importers would have a slightly harder time particularly on short run products.

It all has to be paid for and manufacturers must be encouraged to improve their attitude towards recycling by way of their pockets.