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What's Hot for 2003

The year in preview--from the tech gear you'll buy to Web services you'll try.

By The Editors of PC World   

Recycling Fees on Hold as PCs Get Greener

Someday, every computer purchase may include a charge of $10, $20, or more to pay for safe dismantling after the PC has processed its last byte. But not yet. Conservationists, legislators, and PC vendors continue to wrangle over who should pay to clean up the lead, mercury, and other toxins in discarded PC components such as cathode-ray tubes and motherboards.

It will take months to resolve such questions as how to finance and monitor the recycling of old computers, and at what point in a product's life cycle a recycling fee should be applied. This summer the Japanese government will extend its current compulsory recycling program for business computers to all PCs (with consumers picking up the tab); meanwhile, some European countries are putting the onus on PC manufacturers to pay for the safe disposal of their products. PC vendors in this country believe that consumers would balk at even a modest recycling fee tacked onto the price of their new systems.

Ironically, future systems bearing a PC recycling fee will likely include far fewer potential pollutants than current models: LCDs don't contain the pounds of lead that CRTs do, and manufacturers are reducing or eliminating the amount of other toxins in new PC components. See " Planning for Your PC's Disposal" for more information on PC recycling.

--Dennis O'Reilly

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