Where computers go to die

Numerous states have considered so-called e-waste laws, including Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

"I think that a lot of other states, like New York, Massachusetts and Florida, are kind of sitting on their hands to wait and see" how the California program goes, says Murray. "If it seems to be working, it's going to become the model across the country."

Some critics of the law believe that its enactment will have a positive effect, but their praise is measured. "When California does something -- anything -- it frequently provides some type of motivation for other states to act," says Davis, the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition project director. "In that way, it's been very positive. However, I think that the end result is not very good. It's very difficult to implement. There's not enough money. It's probably not well planned."

Davis anticipates shortfalls because, as she points out, it currently costs $10 to $30 to recycle a single cathode ray tube. But Murray argues that no one expects the program to get 100 percent participation, a level that would strain the cost structure. "If we only have a 60 percent recycling rate for bottles and cans, it's hard to imagine how we're going to get the recycling [of electronics] up over 60 percent."

On the other hand, Murray notes, the consequences of not seeking full compliance are far more significant when the issue at hand is high-tech electronics. The stray aluminum can that ends up in the landfill is not nearly as dangerous as a decaying PC leaching lead into the soil.

Eventually, "we need to make sure we're getting pretty close to 100 percent," Murray says, noting that California is recycling about 20 percent of its computers and TVs. (The national rate for computers, according to the Computer Take Back Campaign, is closer to 10 percent.)

One big question that's still unanswered is whether consumers will bother to go to the trouble of recycling. Will a Californian remember, years after buying a PowerBook G4, that she's already invested in its having a good final resting place, so she may as well go to the trouble of getting rid of it properly?

"A fee charged at point of sale and then remitted to the state -- is that necessarily going to motivate the customer to recycle at the time they're ready to get rid of the computer? That's sort of an unknown," says Bryant Hilton, a Dell spokesperson.

Hilton points out that often the person who buys a computer is not the one who gets rid of it when it's finally unusable. (Dell took a neutral position on both the Maine and California legislation.)

Since Dell began offering computer recycling to consumers in March 2003, the adoption by customers has been "slow and steady, not at all where we want it to be yet," says Hilton. Business customers have tended to be more interested in paying for recycling -- or refurbishing old systems to be sold off -- since for a company, keeping around dozens of old systems can mean real warehousing costs, while consumers tend to just stick the junker in a closet.

Dell's most successful recycling promotion for consumers so far began just a few weeks ago, when the company began offering free computer recycling, including home pickup and shipping costs, to customers buying a new Dell computer. The customer sticks the old computer in the new computer's box and slaps on an enclosed shipping label.

Maybe the easiest time to get computer users to recycle is to strike at that exact moment when they're wondering where they're going to put the old one.

• View blog reactions