I, toxic consumer

Christopher Allan Webber at 2015-06-12T17:15:26Z

Gathering up all the toxic things in our apartment we've accrued over the last few years (an old monitor, many batteries, old medication, the n900 phones that finally died, etc) to give to the specialized waste disposal areas. It's really embarassing to see how many toxins I'm responsible for... embarassing enough that it's almost tempting in the back of my mind to just dump in the garbage and make it go "away" so I don't have to admit to how much toxicity I've accrued as a wasteful, modern American.

But that's good evidence of why it's important to, you know, not do that.

Olivier Mehani, uıɐɾ ʞ ʇɐɯɐs, Tyng-Ruey Chuang, Free Software Foundation and 5 others likes this.

uıɐɾ ʞ ʇɐɯɐs, RiveraValdez, Claes Wallin (韋嘉誠) shared this.

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I too dispose of toxic and rare materials responsibly by taking them to a local recycling depot. In the UK there is an environmental policy which tells consumers what items need to be recycled. I personally buy rechargeable batteries when I can and I run things off the mains rather than use batteries.

jrobertson at 2015-06-12T20:45:56Z

It would be nice if the cost of disposal could be factored in to the cost of the product at the time of sale (e.g. a tax or something). Assuming that random consumers are going to do the "right thing" (or even can) at the end of the life of a product is never going to address the problem. But if toxic products cost more at the time of sale (instead of the cost being externalized as it often is now), then I bet the market will figure out how to make products that are not as toxic. Let competition work its "wonders"... Hopefully...

Charles Stanhope at 2015-06-13T21:31:25Z

Olivier Mehani, Christopher Allan Webber likes this.

In California, many electronics items (and also automotive items) incur a 'disposal fee' at the time of purchase. That said, the disposal process is still convoluted. In my locality, they conduct it almost like a police 'stop and search' ... not wanting to be shot by some trigger-happy deputy, I have refrained from further participation in legal toxic items disposal.

lnxwalt@microca.st at 2015-06-13T23:00:17Z

Christopher Allan Webber likes this.

It works more or less like that in Italy (probably related to some european regulation): every electric-powered device sold to consumers includes a tax to (help) pay for its disposal.

The same law that introduced the tax also says that the stores who sell such a device have to take back another one of the same category, and dispose of it properly. This probably works better for big stuff like refrigerators than it does for small consumer electronics, but at least is a start.

Elena ``of Valhalla'' at 2015-06-16T08:44:14Z