The significance of this technological abundance can been seen in the recent uproar caused by the Y2K problem. The total cost associated with solving the Y2K problem is equivalent to that of the Apollo space program. Its estimated that the cost within the United States exceeded $500 billion, while the European Union members spent about $210 billion.

Looking more specifically at computer technology, the degree of economic impact of technology growth is indicated by the companies that operate in the arena. Firms such as Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Lucent, AT&T are near or at the top ranks of corporate growth and significance. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the "Electronic and other electric equipment" segment of the economy represents 261.2 billion dollars in 1997, almost 2% of the US economy.

Concurrent to the growth in the use and production of technology, of course, has been the growth in the need to dispose of obsolete and broken equipment. In 1995, there were over 21,000,000 personal computers sold in the United States. When one understands that a majority of these will become obsolete within 2 years and that the number sold is increasing, one can get some idea of the impact of the waste stream that these discarded computers represent. A 1991 study at Carnegie-Mellon University estimated that 150 million personal computers would require disposal by the year 2005. A subsequent study in 1997 modified this estimate down to 55 million, but also estimates that the equivalent of 15 million additional PCs in unwanted parts would be deposited in landfills. Disposal of this equipment would require approximately an acre of land piled four thousand feet tall in waste.

The two common means of dealing with discarded and broken electronic goods are deposit in landfills and incineration. In landfills, the toxic chemicals contained in electronic goods will over time leach into the groundwater flow and eventually into the human food chain and drinking water supply. Incineration releases these toxic chemicals directly into the air, where they are adsorbed by humans during respiration. Incineration also creates ash and slag containing toxic chemicals, which also require disposal. The lack of recycling and reuse of electronic goods also creates a need for new raw materials and therefore is a secondary cause of the pollution generated in mining and processing of these materials.

Characteristic of Electronic Waste

Appendix I shows the typical contents of a personal computer, and to what extent they are recyclable. The waste resultant from the disposal of electronics is an amalgamation of solid and hazardous waste that poses a difficult set of problems. These problems are caused by the complex nature of the equipment and the nature of the components within the waste. Among the materials that compose this waste are:

Extended Product Responsibility

Extended product responsibility (EPR) embodies an emerging principle of pollution prevention policies that focuses on the life-cycle concept of a product, and that identifies opportunities to prevent pollution and reduce energy consumption throughout the product's life. Included in this concept is the extension of the responsibility of producers to include involvement in take-back schemes in order to ensure the recycling of products and the active involvement of producers in the post-consumer stage of product life-cycle.

The purpose of the ERP initiative is to find ways for the producers of waste to be responsible for its disposal at the end of its life span. This entails several benefits, including:

EPR includes several different objectives:

History of EPR

There have been significant developments toward implementing EPR in the last decade, including new EPR-related laws in German, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and Denmark.

Germany

Most agree that the first major step towards advancing EPR was the 1991 German "Ordinance on Avoidance of Packaging Waste". This ordinance requires industry to take back, reuse, and/or recycle packaging materials. This shifts the burden of waste management from the municipal authorities to the manufacturers, distributors and retailers who generate waste.

This law was implemented without the German government dictating any specific changes, but relied upon industry to find an efficient manner to implement ERP. This was accomplished when German industry formed the Duales System Deutschland (DSD). This private entity collects and processes used packaging, and takes responsibility for each stage of the packaging process. Under the DSD system, manufacturers apply for and pay DSD a fee to place their symbol, a "green dot", on their packages to ensure that DSD will collect and recycle their packaging. Although the DSD is not responsible for the actual recycling, it does approve packaging design, and the green-dot signifies that the packaging will be recycled. This method provides information to the consumer and a funding source for recycling packaging that would otherwise be problematic. As a result of the widespread use of the green dot symbol, a sufficiently large amount of waste is identified to make the recycling economically viable. This approach to ERP forms a successful waste-avoidance system.

In 1994, Germany passed the Eco-Cycle Waste Act, which specified take-back mandates, allowing the government to impose take-back and other obligations on sellers of products. It also encouraged product responsibility on the part of product designers, producers, users, and distributors. This approach has encouraged corporations to design, produce and distribute products with Design for the Environment methodologies that include developing ways to avoid the creation of waste and to recover waste in an environmentally sound manner.

Netherlands

In March 1997, the Netherlands issued a draft entitled "Dutch Decree on Removal of Electronic Appliances". The purpose of this proposal was to require producers and importers of electronic goods to take back products free of charge for disposal or recycling. This essentially allowed a consumer to return old appliances at no extra cost. The products included in the draft decree included are televisions, CD players, computers, copiers, fax/telecommunication machines, as well as domestic products such as washing machines, refrigerators and small appliances.

The decree did not allow the cost of the recycling and disposal to be passed on to the retailers and municipalities, but did allow these costs to be passed on to the consumer. This was done to allow economic choice to decide how the costs would be borne and to place the consumer in the position of defining the proper balance for these costs within the economic system.

The objectives of the WEEE are simple. First, the WEEE seeks to contribute to the protection of human health and the environment by preventing air, water, and soil pollution. Current waste management practices rely upon landfill disposal and, to a lesser extent, incineration of products in question, resulting in the introduction of a variety of hazardous materials into the environment. Second, the WEEE seeks to avoid waste generation and reduce the harmfulness of waste. This is accomplished through requiring recycling and reuse of components where practical, which reduces both pollution resulting from disposal and that resulting from the production of virgin materials.

On essential aspect of the WEEE is a requirement to eliminate or reduce the use of certain harmful substances in affected products. In particular, the WEEE covers the use of lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium. These materials are currently used in a variety of affected products, for example as leaded solder on printed circuit boards, and in various electronic components. There are a variety of health dangers, including damage to various organs and cancer, associated with exposure to these substances, primarily a result of leaching from landfills into water supplies and into the food chain. The WEEE directs member states to establish maximum levels of use for these materials in affected products and it establishes exemptions for those cases in which no practical substitution is available.

The second essential aspect of the WEEE is an increase in producer responsibility for disposal of covered products. Responsibility for disposal of covered products currently rests primarily with municipalities, and these products currently constitute the most rapidly growing segment of municipal waste. This growth is increasing the burden on already overused landfills, and increasing the amount of toxic input to landfills as well. Requiring producers to assume more responsibility for equipment at its end of life cycle will have two benefits. First, it will allow economies of scale to be applied to disposal and recycling operations and will provide product-specific expertise to improve these efforts. Second, it will naturally encourage producers to employ manufacturing techniques that facilitate recycling and that use recycled content.