Wastelessness

In the past, people have been able to bury this bad ecological design in the trash dump. But a Minnesota law that went into effect July 1, 2004 prohibits the dumping of TVs, desktop computers, laptops, computer monitors and printers in landfills. The state’s way of dealing with the problem is to make it your problem—and that’s by design.

But other designs are possible. In 2002, for example, the European Union passed two “extended producer liability” initiatives, requiring manufacturers to be responsible for recycling the products they make. This will change the art and science of design. When manufacturers are responsible for recycling their products, they’ll begin to design them with different materials, and they’ll design them to be disassembled.

Such initiatives are just getting started in the United States. In early 2004, St. Olaf’s Environmental Coalition joined with other college environmental organizations and petitioned Dell to begin a “take back” program for its computers. In April of that year, Michael Dell appeared on a webcast to outline his company’s environmental progress, and to voice support for the idea—but not for any specific program of industry recycling of electronic waste. As conscientious and coordinated consumers, students at colleges like St. Olaf can change the design of computers, and I hope you will.