I now firmly believe that computer recycling will not work until it’s required by law, and until it’s free. There are various charities that will pick up your happy, working computers for free, but they’re not interested in old or broken machines. There are commercial carting companies, but they charge a big fee just to show up, which prices it way above what anybody will want to pay. I happen to think there’s a small business to be made here.
I did have a funny conversation with a guy who works at one of these commercial companies. After we spoke on the phone, he sent me a quote. I then replied with the following email:
Thank you for the quote.
As we are simply a private residence with only a small number of items to discard, the cost you have quoted, roughly $220, is prohibitively high when it is acceptable for us to put the items into the regular trash stream. Therefore, we will not be pursuing recycling as discussed.
He then replied…
Well in that case you have to do what you got to do, we are a business not a
charity, although we are all about the environment and keeping things out of
the trash. We cannot force you to do the right thing, just keep in mind if
your equipment is found in the trash and they trace it back to you, there
are going to be heavy fines. Good luck.
I couldn’t let that blatant falsity stand…
I understand that, and it is regrettable to contribute to waste for us as well. I have to correct your information: it is not a crime for private residents to put computer items into the trash in NYC: see http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/electronicsrecycling.shtml. Otherwise, we would of course be using a removal service such as yours.
So he said…
Well if your computers have no business use whatsoever than yes you are
correct. However I simply try to help people realize that the throwing
hazardous things in landfill only hurts in the fight against Global warming.
You justifying your email and mine don’t help the environment. Thank You.
The discussion continues to be ludicrous. They’re not helping global warming, strictly speaking, and they certainly are not educating anyone. The direct effect of throwing away electronics in a landfill is a problem of toxic metals leeching into the water supply. The indirect effect is that recycling and reusing products is far less energy intensive than producing them from raw materials. The net effect there is a function of what is being recycled and how, but that is almost exclusively the case.
