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The Courts Government News Technology

Texas Makes Green Computing Mandatory 157

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the cheaper-materials-only-a-signature-away dept.
athloi writes to mention that Texas legislators have passed a bill that would require computer companies to provide free recycling services to their customers for hardware purchased. "The bill (HB 2714) requires computer manufacturers to provide a "reasonably convenient" recycling plan that requires no additional payments from consumers. Dell and HP provided some model legislation that was used as the basis for the bill, which will only affect computers purchased for personal or home business use, but it could still encourage manufacturers to adopt efficient recycling programs that might then be applied to all machines sold."
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Texas Makes Green Computing Mandatory More

Texas Makes Green Computing Mandatory

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  • No additional payments from consumers (Score:5, Insightful)

    by biocute ( 936687 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @06:21PM (#19471427)
    I guess that just means prices for new computers will go up $50 or so, and recycling services are, as promised, free.

    Companies might even see a better profit margin unless recycling is also forced upon consumers.

    • Dell charges $0, and they're still cheap (Score:4, Interesting)

      by schwaang ( 667808 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @06:30PM (#19471591)
      Dell's recycling option is offered for free. They give you mailing labels to send your old computer and monitor via DHL or something.

      I don't know how much it actually costs Dell (obviously more than they charge), but so far Dell still has very low prices.

      I can see why Dell would help force this on the competition... But in the end it's probably net positive for everybody.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ucklak ( 755284 )
        It has to become garbage somewhere.

        I've sent hundreds of old computers, monitors, and printers to a local recyclying place. They said that this stuff gets stuck on a pallet and shpped to India and Bangladesh where it gets dissassembled and processed.

        Interesting thing is that no inkjet printers were allowed to be dropped off as the dissassembly is too difficult and not enough of a particular model has been available for them to become proficient in dissassembly.

        I just can't imagine that millions of 540mb HD

        • Re:Dell charges $0, and they're still cheap (Score:4, Informative)

          by schwaang ( 667808 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @07:19PM (#19472075)

          It has to become garbage somewhere.


          Yes, maybe at first. But Germany has a law that requires manufacturers to take things back for disposal. I think Japan has something similar. It is expected that manufacturers will as a result modify their designs to make disposal or reuse cheaper for themselves. The hope is that this means cutting down on the variety of different chemicals used, and substituting non-toxics where possible.

          There is also a notion called Cradle to Cradle [wikipedia.org] which is gaining ground.

          So this Texas law could be the US starting to play catch-up.

          There is also increasing awareness of the enviro-dumping you mention on the part of developed countries in India, China, Vietnam, etc.

          It's a step-by-step process to fix this mess.
          • It's easy for Germany to have a feel good law about their own domestic manufacturing, because the bulk of that nation's income is from exports. How about we start sending all of our trash from German made exports to the USA back to Germany?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by quax ( 19371 )
              Since most of the German exports are durable goods i.e. cars, machines, appliances etc. I'd say that'll be a net gain for Germany given the current elevated prices for commodities (especially if the US pays for shipping).

              You also seem to overestimate how much is exported to the US. It only accounts for 9% of the total exports. The bulk of it goes to other EU countries [gtnews.com].

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by daeg ( 828071 )
          I doubt many things are recycled wholesale. Instead, they are taken apart by cheap laborers and machines and sorted into material types. For instance, melting all plastics down can create a cheap source of low-grade plastic suitable for things like residential drainage pipes, plastic mesh, non-fire retardant insulation, etc. Metal can be processed using the same metal processing that normal recyclers use after the more valuable pieces are removed. Ceramics, silicone, rubber, and glass can be crushed/melted
        • Well that's because you're not supposed to try to recycle old inkjet printers. You're supposed to use them as the primary raw material for a homebrew C&C mill.

      • Re:Dell charges $0, and they're still cheap (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Nimey ( 114278 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @07:19PM (#19472069) Homepage Journal

        Dell's recycling option is offered for free.


        TANSTAAFL. The money for that's coming from somewhere, just as a hotel's "free" breakfast is.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by no_pets ( 881013 )
        I have no links to this (too lazy) but I have read/heard/saw on TV that it's cheaper/easier to get the gold and other metals out of old electronics than to mine. I have no idea how much the metal in a typical PC would be worth but perhaps enough to help cover the shipping costs back to Dell or wherever Dell is having them shipped?

        The point that I'm making is that it really doesn't (maybe) cost Dell anything, all things considered, to recycle these PCs.

        • The point that I'm making is that it really doesn't (maybe) cost Dell anything, all things considered, to recycle these PCs.


          I don't have any actual data on this, but I strongly suspect it *does* cost Dell something, and that's part of why they helped to write the Texas legislation -- so that their competitors will have to pay too.

          (If they could make much money doing it, why is it hard to find places that will recycle computers for free?)
          • (If they could make much money doing it, why is it hard to find places that will recycle computers for free?)

            It's not.

            pcdisposal.com
            freecomputerrecycling.com

            Just fucking Google it. "free computer recycling" gave me a lot of hits.

            Since it is so easy to find free recycling places, one has to wonder what's in it for Dell and HP. My guess is that their work supporting this law is actually to help the environment.
            • Those links are bogus.
              One is the UK.
              The other is not free.

              Have you actually tried to recycle e-waste lately? I remember when HP did a free recycling program with OfficeDepot a couple of years ago, I got rid of a garage worth of stuff, and then went out of my way to buy supplies at OfficeDepot out of sheer gratitude.

    • Bingo.

      We should always scrutinize things a bit more carefully when it is the corporations that help draft the legislation. They aren't going to help create laws that diminish their profits. They must simply be betting that fewer consumers will use the service than buy new PCs. The media industry "helped" revamp our copyright law and that brought us the DMCA.

      Somebody ought to give you that 5th mod point.

    • We've had this system in the Netherlands for ages already. Consumer pays 1 or 2.50 more...

    • Just a thought, but people could request to purchase Keyboards without the 'W'?

    • Walker TEXAS Ranger (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Here is his platform (he really wrote this):

      Require members of Congress to work out on the Total Gym 15 minutes each day - or else they can't vote on anything.

      Cut spending by dismissing the Secret Service, at least for my eight years in office (why would I need them?).

      Resurrect Bruce Lee and appoint him head of homeland security (OK, the CIA and FBI too).

      Give a presidential pardon to ... no one, ever. Baretta was right in the '70s, "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time. Don't do it!"

      Turn the Rose Ga
    • Well, here in Alberta there's a $25 recycling fee on new computers (I believe it's when you buy a processor and mobo in the same purchase, I may be wrong though).

      So... that may be a good number to estimate your increase costs off of.
  • Remarkable. Not for the initiative itself, which is perfectly ordinary common sense, but from where it comes from. Reminds me of the time my grandad's pig played the violin. We all clapped and shouted hooray, not because the pig was any good, but because he could do it at all.
    • Here in Texas, we now have all the electricity we need to take on these large environmental projects thanks to the 7 brand new pollution-spewing coal-fired power plants currently being rushed through the approval process.

      • Re:Texas?! Environmental responsibility? Holy crap (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Cid Highwind ( 9258 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @06:49PM (#19471777) Homepage
        Hey, we *need* those plants to provide surplus generation capacity for the next time there's money to be made taking a plant (or five) offline in California and then selling them our electricity at triple the market rate!

        • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
          Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re:Texas?! Environmental responsibility? Holy crap (Score:5, Insightful)

            by misanthrope101 ( 253915 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @02:23AM (#19474833)
            From what I read, the California energy situation had more to do with Enron than with poor planning. When we've privatized something the public absolutely has to have and scarcity is profitable, scarcity is what you get. By design.

          • Re:Texas?! Environmental responsibility? Holy crap (Score:5, Insightful)

            by MobyDisk ( 75490 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2007 @09:20AM (#19476743) Homepage

            Environmentalism and Economies HATE each other.
            I am so sick of this argument. It's the Republican party line and it is very shortsighted. Environmentalism only hates economics if:
            1) The environmentalism is environmental wacko ("Wind power? Those towers are ugly!")
            2) Your competitors invest in technology but you don't

            One of the problem the U.S. has is that we decided not to invest in battery/hybrid/flex fuel vehicles because it was considered too expensive. That would only have been a sound economic decision if everyone else made the same decision. But Japan did. So now, the only battery/hybrid/flex fuel vehicles are made outside the U.S. and U.S. auto-makers are scrambling to catch-up or they go out of business. This is a case where environmentalism and economies were 100% in line.

            Same goes with power plants. You can't regulate power prices and refuse to build new power plants. That has nothing to do with environmentalism, it's just a stupid economic decision. And now that oil prices are on the rise, we see that building other forms of power plants is not only environmentally friend, but it is also becoming economical.

            This isn't a case where California made the choice to be "green" -- it is a case where California, like much of the U.S. chose not to be green, and they are paying the price. But at least they don't have those ugly wind farms blocking the beautiful views.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Abcd1234 ( 188840 )
            Bullshit. The reality, for those curious, is that captive markets + deregulation and consumers hate each other. The energy debacle in Cali had one single root cause: deregulation. It's just that simple. Good like finding a republican who will admit *that*, though...
    • Texas isn't a one face State, we are large enough to have a myriad of different beliefs, after all have you ever been to Austin. You know, the Live Music Capital of the US.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by fucksl4shd0t ( 630000 )

        Only people in Austin call it the live music capital of the world.

  • Who has the highest emissions of anybody in the country.

    I'm sure recycling computer parts will help out a LOT.
    • It's very misleading to look at raw quantity of emissions. A more sensible measurement is per-capita emissions. I took the raw CO2 emissions figures [doe.gov] and the state population figures [census.gov] for the same year, and did the relevant calculation. Turns out many states are worse than Texas for greenhouse gas emissions. By my calculations, New York is by far the worst.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Bob-taro ( 996889 )

      I'm sure recycling computer parts will help out a LOT.
      Whether it helps a lot or a little, it's an improvement. Don't knock incremental improvements.
    • Yeah, but if the people paying are the people drafting the legislation, I'd say that the price is definitely right.
  • What's dell going to do, have people ship them old computers? Ya, that'll be real cheap.

    This is one of those places where you should tax something and have the government provide the service. There are definitely going to be economies of scale.

    The Province of Alberta (Canada) already has a program where there is a small fee when you buy a computer and then they recycle old computers for free. You just take the computer to a local depot:

    http://www3.gov.ab.ca/env/waste/ewaste/index.html [gov.ab.ca]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Idbar ( 1034346 )
      Currently, HP toners come with a sticker inside that you put to the box once you replace it. The box is picked up by UPS at no cost.
    • Dell has an agreement with Goodwill so that computers can be dropped off at Goodwill donation sites to be recycled.

      It started here in Austin in 2004, but now I see that they've expanded it to several more states. See the Dell recycling website [reconnectpartnership.com].

  • What about other appliances? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Firethorn ( 177587 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @06:29PM (#19471559) Homepage Journal
    Why single out computers?

    I mean, what about all the other appliances that tend to hit landfills, such as refridgerators, dishwashers, washers&dryers, televisions, radios, etc...?

    With the newer controls and electronics many of these contain, I would tend to argue that there aren't any materials found in computers that aren't in these.

    I think that Dell's got a cheap recycling program figured out(ship them to china?), and is trying to use this to muscle out the competition, which can't arrange disposal of old machines as easily.

    Then there's the whole issue of what happens if the retailer is out of business when the customer goes to recycle his or her computer...

    • Re:What about other appliances? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by truckaxle ( 883149 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @06:56PM (#19471851) Homepage

      I mean, what about all the other appliances that tend to hit landfills, such as refridgerators, dishwashers, washers&dryers, televisions, radios, etc...?


      Right on.

      I always thought a good policy would be to have manufactures put a recycling fee into an escrow account (that earns a nominal interest for the manufacture) at the time of sale to large resource intensive consumer goods like computers, refrigerators, stoves, etc.

      The product would have a bar code and whenever the registered local landfill or recycling depot receives the disposed product they scan the bar code and are credited for the recycling fee from the escrow account.

      This has the following benefits....

      • Places the burden of disposal up front with the purchase of the product. This is fair economics as it places the burden on those who benefit from the product (both sale and use) .

      • Source of income (instead of burden) for local landfill/recycling depots and could favor recycling.

      • Encourage manufactures to build long lived products and to support products with *replacement parts* since the longer the product remains in service the more interest the manufactures earns. This is my favorite benefit, as I have thrown away Would generate real-world statistics on product longevity and reward manufactures for building quality. If a manufactures builds a lemon like a GE Refrigerator I had, this statistics would be public accessible knowledge and maybe even support class-action suits.


      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Myrcutio ( 1006333 )
        That would definately increase the drive to recycle components, but it would also encourage cheap recycling, in several senses. If they get free money for claiming to recycle components, what incentive would they have to do a good job of actually putting those materials back into circulation. Sure you can put the burden on law enforcement to punish lazy recyclers, but then the recyclers will only do enough to keep themselves out of court. In order to really effect a change, you need to make the act of re

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by xappax ( 876447 )
        I think it's a very interesting and probably a good idea, but it's a stretch to say that it'd encourage companies to prolong the life of their products through replacement parts, better workmanship, etc.

        Manufacturers produce poorly made appliances for two reasons: 1) It saves them money in the manufacturing process, obviously, but also 2) It forces people to buy their appliance (or the latest model) multiple times. You may think that if someone's appliance broke, they'd immediately go to the competitor,

    • I think that Dell's got a cheap recycling program figured out (ship them to china?)

      Probably. [slashdot.org]

    • Actually, there was a significant push [austinchronicle.com] to get the Legislature to get them to put other appliances in as well:

      "[Activists] were pushing for a provision to require television manufacturers selling products in Texas to take back and recycle customers' old televisions, to be added to ... Republican Dennis Bonnen's widely popular House Bill 2714, and its identical Senate companion, Kirk Watson's Senate Bill 1324, which establish statewide take-back standards for computers, monitors, and laptops, at the behest
    • What's it cost to ship a desktop, LCD monitor, or laptop? What's the convenience factor? What's the turnover rate on these electronics?
      What's it cost to ship a dishwasher, refrigerator, washer, or dryer? What's the convenience factor? What's the turnover rate on these electronics?

      I agree that all appliances should be [eventually] included -- but this is the low hanging fruit. Compared to "white" appliances, computers are cheaper to ship, tend to get replaced more frequently, and almost certainly contai

  • Smaller System Builders? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Pantero Blanco ( 792776 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @06:29PM (#19471563)
    Are smaller system builders considered "manufacturers"? That would explain why the bill got so much support from HP and Dell; it raises the cost of doing business.
    • My thoughts on the situation exactly. This bill raises barriers to entry which protect the big players by forcing small players out of the business.

      No, it isn't surprising. Yes, it is despicable. Yes, consumers will pay - not only for the cost of the "free service," but also for lack of a more competitive market.

  • Corporations writing laws? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Stiletto ( 12066 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @06:34PM (#19471633)
    Dell and HP provided some model legislation that was used as the basis for the bill

    I'm not naive--I know it happens all the time, but I still get the shivers every time I read things like this. Am I the only one uncomfortable with the concept of corporations drafting laws?

    I wonder what our country's founding fathers would have thought of the newspapers of their time reporting "This bill, drafted by the Honourable East India Company, and passed by Congress..."

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eln ( 21727 )
      That's pretty much how it works these days. The corporation writes the bill, then hires lobbyists to make sure it passes through Congress. Other corporations may then hire other congress people to attach irrelevant riders to these bills authorizing various pork barrel projects. If a lobbyist encounters a congress person who is not willing and eager to go along, they may need to take that congress person on a "fact finding mission" to a Caribbean resort in order to persuade them with various perks. If th
    • To an extent, I'd hope that the EITC was invovled in the drafting of a bill that would affect it directly. Otherwise you get legislatures passing stupid stuff that'll cripple business.

      It's when the business writes the entire draft that you have to be concerned. This sounds scary, at least to me.

      I figure that Dell&HP think that they can handle the recycling costs cheaper than other manufacturers and that this will give them an advantage over other companies.

      That, or that by getting this passed they won
    • I'm not naive--I know it happens all the time, but I still get the shivers every time I read things like this. Am I the only one uncomfortable with the concept of corporations drafting laws?

      It's either companies in the businesses affected writing them or, "The internet isn't a truck, it's a series of tube" Congresscritters.

      Personally, I'd rather have the businesses.

      • It's either companies in the businesses affected writing them or, "The internet isn't a truck, it's a series of tube" Congresscritters.

        Many of the times "Congresscritters" say stupid things that get them mocked by people who understand the subject, its not because they are particularly ignorant, but rather because they are trying to throw up a wall of obfuscation around the position they are carrying on behalf of industry, because they aren't interested in people paying attention to and understanding the su

    • I'm not naive--I know it happens all the time, but I still get the shivers every time I read things like this. Am I the only one uncomfortable with the concept of corporations drafting laws?

      Certainly not.

      I wonder what our country's founding fathers would have thought of the newspapers of their time reporting "This bill, drafted by the Honourable East India Company, and passed by Congress..."

      Our founding fathers were probably used to commercial interests drafting laws and lobbying for them, and probably used

    • I would much rather leave as much as possible about computers to people who actually KNOW computers rather than to the underinformed and woefully overconfident junior staffers of figureheads who think that the Internet is a series of tubes. (Legislators do not write legislation. Their staff and aides write legislation. The legislator reads a summary prepared for him which, on a good day, actually explains what the bill does.)

      Darn few people in Texas know the business of computers better than Dell.
    • Considering that they started a war over corporation-drafted laws [wikipedia.org], I'd guess they'd be agin it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kabocox ( 199019 )
      I'm not naive--I know it happens all the time, but I still get the shivers every time I read things like this. Am I the only one uncomfortable with the concept of corporations drafting laws?

      I wonder what our country's founding fathers would have thought of the newspapers of their time reporting "This bill, drafted by the Honourable East India Company, and passed by Congress..."

      Um, the difference was that EIC did have access to the British congress, but the founding fathers didn't have access to the British

  • No such thing as free (Score:3, Insightful)

    by nurb432 ( 527695 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @06:49PM (#19471783) Homepage Journal
    The cost will just be passed along to the consumer.

    • The cost will just be passed along to the consumer.
      Actually, it will be shifted. From the environment to the consumer's wallet.

      Which is good. I like my fish without mercury, thank you very much.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Aladrin ( 926209 )
        You are making the assumption that people will actually take advantage of this. It's much more likely that most people will continue as they are doing and everyone will still have to pay for it, used or not.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by JonathanR ( 852748 )
          Consumers will take advantage of it if landfill operators refuse to accept, and recycling firms charge to accept the waste.

          Then the consumer will see that using the manufacturer's recycling scheme is advanatageous.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Aladrin ( 926209 )
            You've made another assumption... That the landfill operators have -any- idea what's in the garbage bags before they accept them. And afterwards, they have no idea who it came from.

            I agree, if you can somehow force the majority of the population to recycle, things would be better. So far, in the past few decades, we've failed at that. How is this any different?
    • Just dump it and don't pay now. Pass the environmental costs on to our children etc.

      Remember folks, we don't own the world. We're just borrowing it from our children.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nurb432 ( 527695 )
        Ever bought tires? They charge you upfront, regardless if you leave the tires at the store or take them back home. They assume you are going to dump them, even if you want to chop them up for fuel or to make a flower pot out of them.

        You are automatically assumed to be a criminal and are charged as such.
    • Since you are so bright and obviously know so much more than all of us clods, perhaps you could educate us all.

    • Have you considered that maybe that's the right thing? Maybe we SHOULD have to pay, up front, for the disposal costs of the items we purchase.

      Having said that, the Texas government could just give the companies a tax break equivalent to the expense of running the recycling program. That way it is ultimately the government (and taxpayers) who pay for it. That makes sense, doesn't it? Who else should pay for it? Grays from Mars?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nurb432 ( 527695 )
        No, its the wrong thing to do. What if i choose not to dispose of the product? Why should i be penalized? Hell i should get a discount!

        Good example is my collection of retro computers, ive never thrown one away yet that ive bought ( and thats over 30 machines, neatly stacked in the garage in their original cartons )

        Paying at time of disposal is more accurate and equitable.

        • No, its the wrong thing to do. What if i choose not to dispose of the product? Why should i be penalized? Hell i should get a discount!

          In an ideal world, sure. But in our NON-ideal world, most consumers are lazy and would probably dispose of their electronics in a dumpster. In fact, why not make it a refundable deposit like many states already do with recyclable bottles and cans?

  • ...are soon found working at their offices with green hair dye, green cloths and similarly colored keyboards and mice.

  • A couple of points for the easily deceived:
    • "Free" as in YOU pay for it at the time of purchase.
    • If the company you bought the hardware from goes out of business I assume you end up paying for a service you never get.
    • You pay long before you receive the service. Right now recycling of that nature is expensive but will probably become cheaper. You however get the early adopter mega fee!
    • Suppose you find an outfit willing to pay you to recycle your hardware? Now your "free" recycling fee is just an un
  • Okay, if you provide a recycling option for your old 'puta ONLY if you buy a new one, that could get sticky. What if you buy a new system as separate parts from different retailers? Neither individual purchase constitutes a "computer", but I'm still going to have an old system to recycle.
  • So how long before people start showing up with truckfuls of circa 1999 servers and claim they're all from their home-based business? In the town where I work they offer free paper recycling for personal and home business use. But invariably the bin is stuffed with paper that is obviously from neither of those sources (i.e. baled and bound paper shreddings, industrially die cut waste).
  • And a bunch of other states as well, supporting such a wonderful [bbc.co.uk] industry.

  • When I was younger, one of the ways I learned networking was by putting Linux on a number of surplus boxes and hooking them together. Earlier than that, I used one of my older 'spare' machines as the first testbed for exploring with Linux.

    All I can see initiatives like this amounting to is that Dell will whisk away the old box before anybody can think of a way to use it. Out of sight, out of mind, and nobody engages in the dangerous and subversive activity of putting a non-Microsoft OS on it.

    • All I can see initiatives like this amounting to is that Dell will whisk away the old box before anybody can think of a way to use it. Out of sight, out of mind, and nobody engages in the dangerous and subversive activity of putting a non-Microsoft OS on it.

      So, start a Free Geek [freegeek.org] chapter and make a deal with the computer shops to handle their recycling for them.

  • Let's see...

    250GB drive..
    250GB drive..
    250GB drive..
    100GB drive..
    60 GB drive..
    50 GB drive..
    40 GB drive..

    Unheard of storage at an unbeatable price!
  • I recently changed my recycling policy here in Texas with my computers. Until a month ago it was I upgraded, then my room mate upgraded with my old parts, then the living room emu/movie/etc pc got upgraded, etc with the parts. at the very end the left over stuff was sat 100 yards from back of the house and shot with a 22-250 (rifle)..
    now we added an extra step where my room mate upgrades another friend ;) But we are considering making the chain long enough so the parts finally end up in Russia and in excha
  • I recently bought a Mac Pro, and noticed that I could box up my old PC and send it to Apple for recycling for no charge. Of course I didn't send it in, since it's not completely dead yet...

  • Well damn -- since it has been determined that ... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by 3seas ( 184403 ) on Monday June 11, 2007 @09:32PM (#19473109) Homepage Journal
    ... crunched up computer electronics contains a lot more precious metals than the ore that originated the metals... they should be paying the individuals disposing the stuff....
  • What's that? Cabbage in, cabbage out.

    Does this have anything to do with Cole's Law.

  • How long until "mandatory" recycling? You have an old computer without the latest hardware tracking and DRM assist devices in it. It is more than x years old and therefore qualifies for "mandatory" recycling.

    This would be a great boon to Dell, HP, Gateway and Lenovo. It would force people to upgrade to new computers. The only question is how long qualifies? One year? Two? Certainly no more than three years.

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