Thursday, July 10, 2008

Electronic Tax

The province of Ontario has decided to charge a recycling levy on electronics. They range from $10 on a TV to $13 for a desktop computer.

I don't know if these fees will change behavior or cover the cost of recycling. Ten bucks on a $1500 TV is hardly going to make people think twice about buying it or how they'll throw it out. Just another tax disguised as a green initiative. There must be better policy options out there.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I think that it'll depend on the person. I live on the east coast (of Canada) and I called our Solid Waste commission to enquire about what to do with my old television. I figured that they would know of a recycling program close by where I could properly dispose of it. Their words to me "put it with the rest of the garbage."

I was a little disappointed by that.

BBC said...

I recycled some computers not long ago, but they charge so much I won't do it again. And if they are sending them to China all that is doing is polluting that country more, have you read how they do it over there?

Toxic World Blog said...

I have read some stories about how they "recycle" electronics in China and other developing countries. Not exactly the best method...

Unknown said...

How do they recycle them? I'm curious now.

Anonymous said...

See the URL in my name for details about how they are recycled.