I think it all varies from place to place. Can't say as there's a right and a wrong to it as long as your heart is in the right place and you're trying to do something positive about the lead & mercury e-waste issue.
I'm not a big fan of guvmiin't involvement in anything but it seems to work here. Years ago .... the state started a program where you pay a ten dollar disposal fee when you buy a new car or truck battery. That money goes into a fund and the large recyclers get paid to properly dispose of it when it reaches end of life. They did the same thing with bottles & cans where you pay a nickel deposit at the checkout.
There's a similar thing going on with electronics here. There's a small disposal fee included in the price when you buy. Also ... the major electronics manufacturers have to pay a license fee if they intend to sell their products in our state. It artificially props up the electronics recycling effort and makes it a paying proposition for the larger companies doing e-waste.
To give you a basis of comparison: Your county is paying 15 k. per year for electronics disposal. We receive about 500.00$ a year from the company that hauls off our e-waste. It's just a token but it's good to see somebody out there doing the right thing and having it also be a profitable business for them. The big boys appear to be doing really well.
Edited to add:
Just a afterthought and it's really not pertinent to the thread but:
I was talking with one of the local scrappers last month. He does mostly copper & aluminum but also does the five cent returnables. (He's got some volunteers to help him with the bottles.) All of the bottle money goes into a scholarship fund to help local kids further their education after high school. I wouldn't have believe it but he showed me the books. There's over a hundred grand in the account now. By the time he retires the scholarship fund will be self sustaining.
The civic organization that i'm a part of also does a similar thing but on a smaller scale.
I guess the point would be that it is possible to have recycling be a paying proposition and a benefit to the community. It doesn't have to be a burden on the local budget.
Bookmarks