How efficient is the government policy?

Although some efforts are done to encourage reuse and recycle e-waste, there is still no general law, in spite of the growing production of electronic equipment and the health problem this may cause. In the US, there is no consensus about a federal law. Some States created their own regulation, but this is not always effective and sometimes even cofusing.
Europe tries to collect as many electronic waste as possible. these products are reused or recycled, making sure that those components that can harm human health, are processed well. However, recent studies showed that the policy used since 2003 is not very successful. Only one third is collected. illegal export of e-waste is still going on.
A third important producer of electronic equipment is China. in January 2011, the country will launch a new regulation to decrease e-waste and pollution.
It is clear that the government policy is not yet up-to-date and a uniform regulation seems necessary.

Jonas dauwe

Sources:

http://uanews.org/node/32631

http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/rules.htm

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7159886.html

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/index_en.htm