The problem is that always the economically cleanest approach is to add fees, which are political suicide.
Like, if you add a “disposal fee” to electronics, that creates incentive to build electronics that last long. But Ford chased Wynne out of Ontario Government using their e-waste fees.
The alternative is stupid bulky bureaucracy and regulation. Which voters say they hate, but their actions speak louder.
Carrots are politically better than sticks, but how do you offer a carrot for not doing something? Fee-and-dividend is supposed to do that, but now we’re at “axe the tax” under a fee-and-dividend model.
So maybe bureaucracy and regulation is the way to go.
Ban glue in portable electronics assembly? I’ll never forgive Apple for inventing that nonsense.
Require that any device that is E-Waste have a big ugly “this is e-waste” label on its exterior that end users are totally allowed to remove, but replacing the “this is e-waste” panel with something clean-looking must be at least as easy as replacing the battery.
Que every muppet ever that keeps saying “OMG, it’s illegal for me to remove a mattress tag” when it’s absolutely not, and they’d know that if they ever read the fucking mattress tag.
Old Casio watches managed to do it with just screws. We live in the future, I’m sure there’s a way to fasten a phone together waterproof with just rubber gaskets and mechanical fasteners instead of glue.
Ah yeah, rubber gaskets! I totally forgot about those. With today’s manufacturing capabilities it should be possible to create super-thin gaskets without affecting product design too much.
The problem is that always the economically cleanest approach is to add fees, which are political suicide.
Like, if you add a “disposal fee” to electronics, that creates incentive to build electronics that last long. But Ford chased Wynne out of Ontario Government using their e-waste fees.
The alternative is stupid bulky bureaucracy and regulation. Which voters say they hate, but their actions speak louder.
Carrots are politically better than sticks, but how do you offer a carrot for not doing something? Fee-and-dividend is supposed to do that, but now we’re at “axe the tax” under a fee-and-dividend model.
So maybe bureaucracy and regulation is the way to go.
Ban glue in portable electronics assembly? I’ll never forgive Apple for inventing that nonsense.
Require that any device that is E-Waste have a big ugly “this is e-waste” label on its exterior that end users are totally allowed to remove, but replacing the “this is e-waste” panel with something clean-looking must be at least as easy as replacing the battery.
Que every muppet ever that keeps saying “OMG, it’s illegal for me to remove a mattress tag” when it’s absolutely not, and they’d know that if they ever read the fucking mattress tag.
Something I don’t understand about the anti-glue sentiment: how do you make a device waterproof without glue or sealant?
Old Casio watches managed to do it with just screws. We live in the future, I’m sure there’s a way to fasten a phone together waterproof with just rubber gaskets and mechanical fasteners instead of glue.
Ah yeah, rubber gaskets! I totally forgot about those. With today’s manufacturing capabilities it should be possible to create super-thin gaskets without affecting product design too much.