Mandatory Hardware Recycling Coming To US?

BDPrime writes, "A U.S. congressional caucus has met twice to discuss proposing national legislation that would make hardware manufacturers responsible for taking back their own stuff, similar to what Europe implemented with WEEE (PDF). The story quotes David Douglas, one of Sun's eco-evangelists, reflecting on the alternative: 'If we were having to deal with local regulations and local disposition facilities in every state, to deal with every state's nuanced costs, that would clearly involve cost to our basic equipment.'" It's early days for this movement; the buzzword to watch here is "E-waste."

Comments

Huh?

[LordPhantom]

It's early days for this movement; the buzzword to watch here is "E-waste." But...but... I thought that was called "myspace"!

What does this have to do with EWM?

[chrismcdirty]

This is the second time that I've noticed kdawson misusing the Enlightenment icon. Are you guys just picking icons based on how pretty they look now?

Re:What does this have to do with EWM?

[vadim_t]

It sounds to me like kdawson doesn't know the enlightenment topic refers to a window manager, and instead uses it in the cultural (education, spread of knowledge) sense.

Re:What does this have to do with EWM?

[SmilinJoeFission]

I think you are correct. Unfortunately, every time I get excited that there is some great e17 breakthrough but then I read the byline. It seems that some of the "new" folk just don't know what the Enlightenment, Digital (another commonly misused symbol), etc icons mean. It's sad really...

Why stop there?

[merreborn]

Why don't we place the same requirements on the appliance and automotive industries?

Oh, they probably have better lobyists, don't they?

Re:Why stop there?

[mordors9]

You must be kidding. When did you ever see a car in the landfill. They go to junkyards, which after salvaging what they can in parts, they are smashed and then taken to be recycled. Not sure about appliances, but every time I have had a new one delivered, they have taken the old one away with them. As much as most metal prices are now, if you throw something that has much metal in it away someone is likely to take it out of your trash and to the scrap yard.

First Sale

[XanC]

If I sell something, it then belongs to you: you are responsible for its maintenance, use, and disposal, unless otherwise specified in a contract.

When the law starts saying I'm responsible for anything happens to an object I've sold in the future, where does it end? How about people being responsible for their own property?

Upside to paying rent

[nickheart]

Not that this effects apartment dwellers. I see TVs, radio, computers, computer monitors, used engine oil... all sorts of stuff in our apartment complexes dumpster. I can't imagine how Rhos is going to effect the end-users (corps have to follow the law, peeps just hide) unless we the consumer can dispose properly of our parts for less effort than it takes to walk down to the dumpster at 11pm. The only reason i recycle my HP ink cartridges is because they include than handy prepaid envelope to send it back - less effort to just put it in the outgoing mail bin, then take it down to the trash.

Does This Apply To Foreign Manufacturers?

[cmholm]

The article doesn't make this clear. If it only applies to domestically produced electronics, watch how fast the remainder of non-defence production gets moved overseas.

Maybe it's not a mistake? ;)

[Kadin2048]

Humm, an article about "e-waste" filed under Enlightenment.

Well, that's not exactly complimentary. Guess kdawson really likes Metacity.

What about frankinmachine

[thorkyl]

I have a machine with a Proliant Main and back plane
It has IBM SCSII Hard Drives
Its RAM is from who knows where
Its Nic's... 3-COM, Intel, Winbond
It's Fans... Who knows

Who do I send it back to?
Or do I have to break it into its pieces and send it all back where it came from.

What If I want to keep it forever?
I still have my Northstar (and yes it still works)
I have 4 meg sims (actually sold 3 today to a client for the printer)

Re:Speaking of Icons

[Orange Crush]

I always wondered what that meant! My cell phone charger has one on it and I always just figured it meant: "Please don't throw away your charger, or you can't charge your phone anymore."