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Comment by em-bee | Hacker News Reader

when you buy a new machine in europe, then the seller has to take back the old one for free. this at least applies to household appliances. i think it applies to computers too, but i am not sure.

i think that approach solves the problem. it pushes the cost and responsibility of recycling or disposal to the seller of the new device. they will factor that into their calculation so the consumer pays for it.

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It helps, but without other controls (which may exist, of course) it means that the shittiest manufacturer wins.

If company A makes a product that is cheap to make, but expensive to recycle, and company B makes a product that is expensive to make but has recycling as a core value, and thus is cheap to recycle, company B loses when they have to take on company A's device after a sale.

The costs should be on the original manufacturer and as such, reflected in the purchase price.

well, in most cases you don't buy directly from the manufacturer but from a shop who can send the device to the original manufacturer if appropriate. but i have also doubt that anything can be so expensive to recycle that it would cause a problem. how big could possibly be the difference between an expensive to recycle washing machine and a cheap one? not to mention laws that favor the use of materials that are easy to recycle. and a brief search suggests that some in europe are considering taxes for the use of difficult to recycle materials, like plastic.

I think most everything with a plug on it is covered by WEEE, and has a deposit baked into the price.

Sellers taking returns is also mandated, but the real meat is in getting paid the deposit when you properly recycle the electronic.

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