British Columbia To Charge Recycling Fee 172
An anonymous reader writes "Next week the province of British Columbia will begin adding a recycling fee to new computers and TVs to pay for their free electronics recycling program. The list of what is acceptable for recycling is short, namely computers, printers, and TVs — you cannot recycle personal audio players or cell phones. What is unclear is whether the definition of 'desktop computer' includes self-built computers, and if so, their plans for adding fees for individual components such as motherboards, etc." The article notes that the recovered e-waste will not be sent to developing countries for processing. But one report says that the e-waste won't be recycled at all, but rather burned in a smelter.
not news (Score:5, Informative)
It could also soon be charged in Ontario:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2007/06/12/42
How did they think it would be recycled? (Score:5, Informative)
But dropping it in a smelter is recycling. Junk goes in, refined metal comes out. Smelters do not run on solid fuel anymore, they can't grind up the circuit boards and feed them to the burners.
The organics will burn in the charge, the fiberglass will melt into the slag, the metals will dissolve into the melt.
I forgot how to separate the lead from the copper. (pyrometallurgy class was in 1988, and I went the hydrometallurgy route instead)
Now I'll have to look it up.
The pyro class took a field trip to Trail, neat place if you are into displays of brute power. Sometimes I miss mining. Phys met is so boring; did it corrode
70 places to recycle in the province? (Score:1, Informative)
And while it's population is only 4,352,798, it's still a lot of people.
The BC government plans to cover all that with only 70 locations to turn in materials.
Right, whatever.
This is nothing more than blatant thievery by the BC government and "Encorp", the company administering the whole process.
Re:70 places to recycle in the province? (Score:3, Informative)
The rest is quite low density and, a side from a few hot spots, is quite spread out.
Even if they aren't covered by the program, or choose not to take advantage of it because of distance, etc, it won't be a significant impact.
California Has Done This (Score:4, Informative)
4-15 inches : $6
15-35 inches: $8
35+ inches : $10
The fee is not a deposit either, like you have on soda cans. If you take your CRT to the dump later, even if you can prove you paid that E-Waste fee, you still have to pay the dump to take your trash.
More Info: http://www.erecycle.org/ [erecycle.org]
Re:Why do they call it recycling.... (Score:4, Informative)
No, they're melted down and leeched into seperate metals.
Nightmare for vendors (Score:4, Informative)
Then Sask jumped on, now BC, and soon all the rest of the provinces.
But, and it is a BIG "BUTT":
We now have to collect separately for each province we sell into, report each month to each province, remit to each province
The paperwork for this equals one person-day per month for all the reporting and filing.
This is a classic example of what should have been done at the federal level, and now is more of a burden than a benefit.
Mod Parent Down (Score:4, Informative)
This is nothing but FUD. BC is 357,216 square miles and contains 4.3 million people (note: I did not verify the parent's numbers, but they seem reasonably correct from memory). On the other hand, California, Nevada, and Oregon put together contains 39 million people. That's almost a 10x difference.
Also remember, the population of Vancouver, Victoria, and the next 3 largest cities in BC total 2.8 million. That's 65% of the entire population of the province, with Vancouver comprising 2.1 million of the total alone. I'm pretty sure the recycling program exists THERE.
Given how dense Victoria, Vancouver, and its outlying areas is (after all, the whole region is walled in by mountains), 70 locations is not outrageous, and can in fact cover a LOT of people's recycling needs.
So take the "blatant thievery" and shove it, unless you have some real proof of a conspiracy to steal taxpayer dollars.
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
The collection stations then ship all this electronics to Calgary or Edmonton to be processed. (sometimes, if you work there or know someone there they will let you scavenge)Machines that are still viable are resold to computer dealers like me to be re-used.
Machines that are too old are stripped and the components are sent to the proper place to be recycled. Plastics get melted down, metals get smelted out etc. No, the system is not perfect, but it keeps the old tv's and computers out of our land fills.
Hopefully B.C. isn't re-inventing the wheel and they will have a similar system.