This is what Congress is for; it will take federal law to change this, at least for how we process discarded electronics in the US. If concerned, please contact your representative and senators. Tell them explicitly what you expect in federal law.
Thank you, Mark Snyder -----Original Message----- Hello all: Last night 60 Minutes aired a disturbing piece on what happens to some of the computers we have been bringing to "recycling centers". Without repeating the name of the particular recycling/distrubtion company, the reporter tracked the shipping container that was filled with recycled computers all the way to Hong Kong. The container in question was refused at the port, but apparently others have traveled to a province outside of Hong Kong where seemingly millions of old monitors and computers are being stripped of their precious metals (Lead, Coltan, Gold, etc...) by hand. The province where this is occurring supposedly has the highest concentration of toxic materials in the world. So a question to ask is: should it be our concern? Should we rely on the "free market" to address this issue? If so, how long would it take? If the so-called "bleeding heart liberal media journalists" had not made this discovery (assuming people include 60 Minutes to be in this category), would the free market correct what is probably a devastating multi-generational environmental hazard? Meanwhile, if you are on the side that would rather act before the "free market" can respond, how can we find out whether our computers are being disposed of in the ecologically responsible manner that we expect when we drop them off? Thanks, Arnold ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
