Technology disposal

You are quite right that consumers always pay. They either pay at the point of consumption, or they pay in the long-run at the other end with higher income taxes to pay for the negative impact that the products cause, and more importantly they “pay” (not necessarily financially) for that negative impact (e.g. polluted waterways, ground water, etc).

But my point is really about who should pay when. We can liken the current approach by government and business in Australia to credit cards. I mean this in a metaphorical way. With the non-EPR philosophy we currently have in Australia (yes, there might be a start, but we are decades away, if we get there at all, from true EPR), we are effectively saying that consumers can pay cheaply for their products now. But the real cost is the long-term impact of planned obsolescence, environmental degradation, and so much more. We consume now and worry about the consequences (if we even care what those are) in the long-term. The “interest” paid on those cheap products over a 30 year “loan” (i.e. after-use disposal, degradation, potential negative health impacts, etc) is quite considerable.

True ERP would turn this on its head and build the “total cost of ownership” of a product over its lifetime, and require consumers to pay upfront for the real cost of that product. This can be applied to a whole range of products, and not just to environmental impact. Consider the gross long-term negative impact of junk food on our dwindling taxpayers who are expected to fund the health system. Consumers (including those who are not, and many who will never be, taxpayers) are happy to pay for cheap food, and leave the real “cost” of that food for 2-3 decades later. And chances are they won’t be the ones paying for it, despite making the “choice” of what to eat, if they are unable to work etc due to health issues.

So the real difference is that consumers would have a price signal (which I think is an economic term?) about what the real cost to them and others will be from that product/service at the point of consumption.

I don’t believe for a second this would be easy, and it would certainly be controversial. For e.g. how do you calculate the true cost, apportion this back to a particular product or type of product, etc. But I do believe it is a conversation that is desperately needed, and a change in our economic and business models are definitely needed to balance the equation more closely to the ERP principle outlined here. Such an approach would also stimulate innovation into alternative approaches to manufacturing (e.g. true closed loop supply chains, product design innovation, etc) which can result in lower prices, but also reduced demand on natural resources, negative environmental impact, etc. Until we send (or require) the right pricing signals to business and consumers, this will never happen.

It would also start, over time, to improve the federal and state budgets over time, because consumers would be paying upfront for the cost of services they will need later. Consumers won’t like it, and that is why it will probably never happen, but businesses are innovative. They will work out that food, technology and other products will actually be cheaper if they are truly good for you (e.g. what happened to buying fresh fruit and vegetables?), and don’t consume natural resources (closed loop supply chains) and end up in waterways and landfill (very convenient, easy to use recycling services most likely from the curb side).

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I’m with you! As consumers we are constantly being told to buy the next new piece of technology… and just where does the old stuff go. The manufacturer should be encouraged to use recycled materials and take back or be responsible for other organisations to recycle old technology

I believe some manufacturers do accept returns of their old tech equipment. I am pretty sure apple computer will accept and dispose of responsibly their old tech when upgrading computers, pods, iPhones etc.

The problem I see arrises as many people don’t dispose of their old apple gear at the time of upgrade because it is so reliable they repurpose or hand it on to other family members so the end of life point a lot of their stuff is often many years after the initial upgrade.

For instance my wife passed her iPhone4 to our eldest son when she got a iphone 6. My sons old iPhone 3 got repurposed as a music library in my car connected to the usb port of my car stereo. and our old 24 inch flat screen iMac was used as a wall mounted AV screen in the kitchen , that is primarily used for catch up TV by the wife when she is cooking.

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As a consumer, you are responsible for the products you buy, also. There almost always is an alternative option, whether that is choosing a similar product that is made from recycled materials. You are also responsible for how your product is disposed of, whether you return it to the manufacturer for upcycling and recycling, or disposing of it at one of your local electronics drop-off points.

Yes, we need to take action against unethical business practices, but we can’t fail to admit that we are also responsible.

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On the subject of re-purposing old tech, we’ve heard about people adding their own computer chips to make items useful again.

There is a slight problem with this. What do the elderly and the disabled do? Many do not drive and getting your dead whitegoods somewhere can be almost impossible, never mind a bed or other bits of furniture that cannot be recycled, and not all of us are able to get up to shopping centres easily. My council has a kerbside service once a year, which is not enough as there is always rubbish dumped on the nature strip. Who ever has the kerbside contract limits it to what they can easily lift without using a sack truck or having a lift on the back of their truck so it has to cost our council far more in the manpower and transport needed to get these items to the dump. Paint and light globes have to go somewhere in the country. I no longer drive, so they have to go into the general rubbish as there is no other way to dispose of many specialist recycling items.

It breaks my heart to learn that you choose not to recycle such products. We have the right to do whatever we want, but we have the responsibility to do what is best. A friend or member of the family could surely see you are disabled from driving and could therefore help to responsibly dispose of such products.

This is not a problem that is solved by choosing not to recycle. The problem is better solved by implementing systems that make it easier for every member of the public to dispose of their waste in a responsible manner. This might be through a more efficient public transport system, maybe by having more drop-off points, maybe having a more efficient collection system.

One of the facts is that doing the right thing (eg recycling in this case) costs and few councils accept electronics, CFL and tubes, or batteries (esp lead-acid), amongst other things, even at central drops let alone by pickup. Even when there is an annual pickup of hard goods the limits can be minimal and thus “window dressing” for the purpose.

The problem is not just an oldie without transport, it is the difficulty involved. People are not going to get taxi’s or hire trucks to their not-nearby recycling centres, if that makes a point, and we all do not have families or friends who are eager to drive us around with what is essentially rubbish.

At some point most people push back when their their personal costs and inconvenience reaches a certain point. In one sense “the responsibility to do what is best” is to pay our way through daily life if a choice has to be made which is most important.

Focusing on recycling at the expense of and in isolation from everything else is a bit myopic, is it not?

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We currently pay for it, directly or indirectly, as has already been discussed earlier in the thread.


Your comments:

were already addressed:

and I even suggested a couple of possible solutions:


Sitting about, saying the problem is too hard, will not solve the problem. How about we become a little more proactive as a society and make our lives a little bit better every day?

I am not entirely sure what your message is here, but I would like to reiterate this:

In the spirit of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, buying responsible products is of the highest priority. Recycling is only a means of dealing with what should be minimal amounts of waste - as a last resort.

Natural thought: I am half blind, have a heart condition so I cannot even attempt to move white goods, and am not allowed to drive. Its not a case of refusing to recycle, its a case of being unable to. Paint and light globes are not allowed in our annual hard rubbish pick up any more than they are allowed to be put in the rubbish. I have nowhere to store unwanted goods.

Hi @barca1au, I did not intend to offend you and am sorry if that is the case. My grievance is aimed at the inefficient society we have helped build, not your physical abilities. I thank you for making me aware that using the word ‘choose’ when talking about not recycling our waste can be misinterpretted as offensive. I will select less offensive words next time. If you would like to better understand my comment, my later comments further explained my view of the situation and suggested some possible solutions.

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There is the chance to introduce trade-ins on all tech, where, like a car, we can take our old tech into a retailer and have a rebate off the price of the new items.
The traded items can then be either recycled or sold to countries where any level of technology is appreciated.
There will need to be regulations of such trades to ensure the traded item is clearly wiped of any old data, but I have no doubt a healthy market will create a reasonable value for the old gear.
This could apply to batteries from all sources as well, where we could use the same deposit refund system as per glass bottles to encourage people to recycle.

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I like your thinking. I am aware of a couple of family-owned computer stores that offer a discounted price when trading in old technology. A container deposit scheme for technology or batteries would be a great incentive to recycle our waste.

For small home use type batteries (AA, AAA, C, D and such including rechargeables) ALDI have a battery recycle bin in each store. There are other stores from other companies that offer a similar service.

There are some companies that will take your old ink cartridges, toners and recycle them Planet Ark being one that through collection agents such as JB HiFi accept them http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/ and also see CartCollect http://www.cartcollect.com.au/.

Old mobile phones can also be recycled see these for some of them

http://www.mobilemuster.com.au/

https://www.mazumamobile.com.au/ (this one pays you if your phone is one they will accept)

http://www.cashaphone.com.au/ (another pay for your phone one)

Addressing some of the other needs eg getting rid of old fridges and so on put a notice in a local free paper that you have it available for scrap, many people do collect to recover the copper and so on. This may not always be an environmentally friendly recycler but you can ask the respondent/s how they recycle and choose to let them take it or not. If a person has difficulty in moving/removing objects I would also suggest contacting youth organisations such as Scouts to get their help or local churches such as the Salvos.

For computers there are some organisations that will take them if they can be refurbished. They then supply them to people and others who need access to them. Clean-up Australia provides a list of some of them (some are fee for service so do check first)

http://www.cleanup.org.au/PDF/au/electronic_waste_recyclers_list.pdf

And again do check with Scouts, Girl Guides or similar if they can help as well.

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My outer suburban locale has seen a marked drop in battery recycling boxes. Coles used to have one but no more because the recycler did not clear it out often enough and it became hazardous and unsightly as people continued to pile old batteries on top and they fell onto the surrounding floor - yes, a number of issues there, but moving on, Dick Smiths closed, Woolies never had one, and Aldi is the only one remaining.

Technology collection boxes/centres identified from the web sites cited above are often limited to mobile phones and USB sticks. My closest technology-friendly recycling depot is 36km round trip across the metro area and having inconvenient operating hours for those in the work force. The groups that refurbish and donate old computers are a 60km round trip.

It is becoming more rather than less difficult even though there are more opportunities in total. Refundable recycling deposits seem like no-brainers, but our pollies usually get their backs up to anything that might “inconvenience” business

Anyone know if there’s a way to send electric shavers for recycling? Mine is toast and I have no idea the best way to dispose of it. Am I best off just looking for tips that might take it or is there a program similar to other technology?

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If it is a rechargeable, you should first remove the batteries and send them to a battery recycling collection point, and if the batteries are removed or it is a wired shaver it is e-waste like any other appliance. A resource to start at is

https://www.recyclingnearyou.com.au/

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Thanks. I did wonder that but I wasn’t sure

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I took a bunch of old electronic equipment to Officeworks a couple of weeks ago, and was advised that they are not accepting anything during the pandemic. Quite annoying.

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