I'm a technojunkie like most of you. I love my digital media players, laptop and desktop and all that stuff. Been using this stuff for decades now and here is what I've concluded and how it relates to this topic.
First: All this e-waste is of our own creation. You can try and blame the manufacturers for obsoleteing thier own hardware every three or four years, but in the end it is we, the customers who are demanding ever more powerful processors & video cards, better digital output from our BlueRay and HDvideo machines and higher resolution on our LCD bigscreen and plasma televisions. Nor can we be content with a telephone that just makes telephone calls or a camera that just takes pictures. We toss all that stuff in the trash, often while those devices are still functional, and go out to buy a load more of these soon to obselete gizmos. Why can't we just pay the price, get what we need and then just be contenet with that? Well I know from my own experience that nobody is prepared to answer that question.
Second: The problem is that we buy poor quality stuff to start with. That is, we rush to the Walmart, Staples, FutureShop or some other big box store and buy the cheapest stuff we can find that seems to have all the functions we want. Trouble is that we'll barely be able to cart it home before it breaks down and then we have to toses it, or return it, (that's the same as tossing it in the end you know. They don't fix all that stuff or recycle it. No they just throw it in the landfill just like you would.) It's incredible how much electronics break down every day. Gone are the days of the 20 year old console television that is still working great. The average life span of a piece of electronics is measured, these days, in terms of months and maybe only weeks but hey! Why should we pay the price for our unwillingness to spend the money on quality right? That's what the enviroment is here for isn't it?
Third: There is the enviroment it self. Honestly do many of you have even the slightest idea how many hazardous waste manterials are used in the production and construction of cirute boards? Circute boards, that's those green colored, plastic boards that are found in every electric alarm clock, wristwatch, cellphone, Digital camaer, mp3 player, Dvd & Blueray player, television, laptop, desktop, and palmtop computer you own, and I'll bet that's just scrtching the surface. Just because they're green in color don't mistake them for being enviromentaly friendly. They're full of arsnic and heavy metals like lead and mercury. Oh the plastic is the least of your worries. These things will break down in the enviroment rather quickly. It's the hazardous wastes they contain that will stick around and get into your food cycle and water system and eventualy you. They are virtualy impossible to filter out once introduced into the enviroment in thier concentrated form and the deseases and illness that they cause in people are most often deadly or disableing and virtualy imposible to treat effectively. I know what your thinking. But I'm just throwing out one little televsion today. How much harm can that do? Well take a walk down to your local garbage dump see all the massive heaps of electronic lying there waiting for the dozer to come back this week to cover over the evidence once more. Your little television is just one more shovel full of dirt tossed on top of the enviroment's grave.
Fouth: Why should I pay? Why not someone else? Well, your the one who wanted all this stuff just like the rest of us. It's not like big brother saw you comming and decided to dump the bill on you. We're all paying for this. From our pockets and our health. What you are realy saying if you ask that question is Why not let everybody else pay and let me off the hook. Well this is a hook that you can not get off of. You either pay cash up front or with your life and health, later. There are things worse than death. Disabilitating deseases and sickness caused by these poisons, that cannot be treated or cured, that will kill you slowly and painfully leaving you helpless to the end. Wouldn't it be better to pay now and hope to avoide 'THAT' fate?
Well what can we do? Isn't to late? NO! It isn't too late, but I do not fool myself into believing that the the changes needed will come easily. People resiste change, even when they know it is essential.
First, we have to stop this insane craving for more and better. Good enough should be good enough. Give the manufacturers a STRONG message. I don't NEED nor desire the very latest bells and whistles. Lets slow obsoletion down. Extend the lifespan of the products we use to their actual lifespan.
Second, Stop rewarding manufacturers for cutting corners and poor quality assurance. Stop waisting money on cheep electronics. If you must buy electronic, buy decently made stuff that has a reputation for lasting. That may mean the end to the Walmart brand of electronics. If so, good riddence to bad trash.
Third, lets see if we can strongly persuade the manufacturers who do buisness in our country to build thier products in a more enviromentaly friendly way and produce and more enviromentaly friendly product. By legislation if necesary. Yes this will cause the price of these items to climb. It's the pay me now, or payme more later principle.
Fourth, encourage STRONGLY manufactures to recycle the products that are returned to them as defective. Also legislate into law that retailers that sell these electronic devices must in some way set up collection points and help pay for local recycling programs for the electronics that they make profits off while selling. This will encourage retailers to carry higher quality electronics that are lees prone to failure rather than just the cheapest stuff they can aquire for sale. Retailers like Walmart acualy armstrong manufacturers into producing lower quality products by setting the bottom line as to what they are willing to pay for maximum profits, thus forcing manufacturers to cut corners to meet that bottom line. And what about us hum? All of this will cause the price of electronics to go up. And even with that we'll still have to put some of our own money into the local recycleing programs. Nobody wants to pay more money, but it's that old 'Pay me now or Pay me more later' principle at work. And maybe you might not rush off so quickly to buy that new television whose screen is a whopping six inches wider that the one in the basement.
You think this recycling fee is an asault against your rights to poison yourself and all the rest of us huh. Well people like you can be found on every street corner and this is why we have never been able to deal with our enviromental problems upto now. But as the enviroment grows more and more polluted you will find you self standing alone on that street corner yelling to the wind. I only hope that the air will not be too poisonous for you to breath by then. You get what you pay for... You pay for what you get.