Last week I made the effort to properly recycle an old VCR. In Boulder, this means that you dispose of your old electronics at EcoCycle.
First Question: How many people are actually going to sort electronics out of their regular trash stream, and make a separate trip just to dispose of some old electronics?
When I showed up at EcoCycle’s gate, the nice lady said, “that will be eight dollars, please.”
Second Question: How many people are going to voluntarily pay extra to dispose of electronics “properly”?
When I gasped, “eight dollars?!?”, the nice lady said, “Well, there are places around that do it for free, but they just ship it to China.”
Third Question: Why would I pay eight dollars extra to keep my junk local when somebody far away is voluntarily taking it for less?