Everybody Wants a Piece of eWaste

There's been lots of movement on the eWaste front, as ruling body after ruling body starts getting serious about the issue. Oregon is trying for the third time (the charm) to get an electronics recycling bill in place, with obvious embarrassment I might add. Looks like they are going to go with the manufacturer's responsibility model.

Saskatchewan is now requiring consumers to foot the bill, by tacking on fees when the items are purchased. Some of the fees are pretty weighty - $10 for a desktop, up to $45 for a TV. Personally, this is my favorite scheme as it encourages "Reduce" more than any other.

At the national level, several countries such as India realize that they have to do something. In India, the problem is two-fold; not only must they deal with their own waste stream, but also the waste coming from the US because its ten times cheaper to process there. Looks like the manufacturers' responsibility model is in the lead. In addition, Greenpeace has reported that Mexico, China, Thailand, and the Philippines all have groundwater contamination from electronic waste. That should get some politicians interested.