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If I shoot someone, shouldn't Remington be charged with murder?

Oh, wait, that sounds totally ridiculous. Sure, Remington made the gun and the ammunition, but they certainly didn't force me to use them in any particular way.

So why should ANYONE place the burden of e-waste fees on the OEMs?

That just doesn't make any sense at all.

Sure, you can say that electronics, laptops, and computers are all made so cheaply now and that cheapness leads to them being thrown out, but why are those products cheap?

Because you and I WANT them to be cheap. Consumers constantly demand MORE from a product while at the same time demanding a LOWER price. Manufacturers are in business because they produce what the public demands, so they do it. They make the cheap goods we crave, we use them up, and WE throw them away.

I have never in my years as a computer technician seen a big truck from Foxconn dumping mainboards into my town landfill. I've not seen a Lexmark van scurry off in the middle of the night after sneakily dumping old ink and toner cartridges in an alleyway.

On the flipside, I HAVE seen countless neighbors being careless consumers and tossing any manner of electronics with no thought about the environmental impact. So why shouldn't they pay the price for it?

And let's think about what those OEMs have done in the past few years to help lessen their environmental impact. Samsung has whole factories powered by solar, wind, and other environmentally friendly means. Almost all major toner manufacturers now provide prepaid shipping labels for the return of old cartridges.

And yet I still see toner in garbage cans? Clearly, I should blame HP for that.

Manufacturers have founded initiatives like TCO99 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ TCO_Certification) and RoHS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Restriction_of_Hazardous_Subst ances_Directive) in an effort to lessen environmental impact for the benefit of everyone. All at costs that were, no doubt, very substantial.

And yet, we want to saddle them with disposal fees?

I think not. I think it's time for us to step up to the plate and do OUR share. If the thought of having to pay an e-waste fee is enough to make one person in 50 buy an item they don't really need and will ultimately just throw away, then I'm all for it.

A manufacturer doesn't dictate my behavior, and I would never expect them to be punished for the way I choose to use or dispose of their product. Once I buy it, it's mine. And if my careless disposal of it harms the environment, I am to blame - not whoever made it.

The bottom line in all this is that consumers HAVE to take responsibility.

Learn more about this author, Lee Mathews.
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