"Scott W. Harvey" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 04:59:12 -0500, "truegridtz"
wrote:

Sounds like they are concerned with the same mess we have here with
computers and cells phones ending up in the dump.

Other WEEE info indicated that they are mainly concerned with dangerous
chemicles in batteries, etc. It does sound like the inspection process
would drive up the price of everything.

If this would force the manufacturers, particularly Chinese ones, to
pay more up front to cover the environmental impact of their
products, then it is a good thing, even if it means consumers will pay
more as well.

For too long, importers of this cheap crap have been permitted to
operate with scant concern about where their products will ultimately
end up. They have been able to price their wares artificially low
because the true cost of manufacturing and ownership is not borne by
them. Why should they care? They don't have to pay the costs of
disposal!

About four to six times a year, I go to our local dump to deposit
refuse that is the result of seasonal cleaning. Every time I am there,
I see an enormous dumpster that is just FILLED FILLED FILLED to over
the top with late-model electronic junk of every description. It makes
me sick.......These items are totally useless albatrosses. No one can
repair them, cannabilization for useful parts is almost impossible,
and disposal in an environmentally acceptable manner is quite
expensive.

IMHO, These items should be put on a giant barge and sent back to the
country of origin with the caveat that a trade embargo will be imposed
against any country that refuses to take them back. Maybe when China,
Mexico, and other cheap-labor countries experience first hand what a
colossal pain it is to deal with the ass end of their product's
mercilessly short life cycles, maybe they won't dump quite so much of
this junk on our shores.


I doubt that the Chinese are really worried about what we want. Communists
are not known for having much of a conscience.

I recall seeing a TV documentary months ago about the recycling of old
computers. They bust them all up and sort the plastic, etc. Seems they
were breaking even or even making a profit. The problem is getting them
before people throw them in the dump. This was a huge operation with
conveyors belts and big piles of dead or near dead computers. I think they
had something like what the tree trimmers haul behind their trucks. Grinds
them up into little recyclable chunks....sort of like spam. Grunt labor
stands there all day by the conveyor belt with Tylenol and rubber gloves.
At least they can claim they are in the computer industry. The last word in
computer technology. MH

-Scott



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