Recycling Techno Trash

"People simply don't know where to take their e-trash,"

It's all too true; if only we could find ways to make it simple. Kerbside collection would be good but that's patchy. It has to be easy enough and cheap enough at the point of use to prevent dumping and misallocation.



There are a few things going on:

A few such efforts have been kept rather quiet. Motorola's website has a prepaid postage label to use on a mailer that can contain an old mobile phone from any manufacturer. Motorola launched the program four months ago but hasn't publicized it much.



And yet there are busninesses crying out for the chance to get hold of the stuff: Recyclers .... are working on creative ways to bring in more material. David Beschen, president of GreenDisk in Sammamish, Wash. is working with the U.S. Postal Service on a plan to get used electronics equipment to postal processing centers in trucks that have already dropped off the day's mail. Recyclers are seeing their volume increase. Wireless phone recycling and refurbishing company Collective Good says it takes in about eight tons of cell phones a month. Another company, ReCellular, says it processes 10,000 to 15,000 phones a day.

Wired News: Who's Recycling Techno Trash?: