However, grinding down the CRT and exposing the remains to an
acid is not my idea of suitable testing. Yet, that's what it took to
get any numbers for lead leaching into the environment from CRT's.
How many landfills grind their waste to powder and then acid etch them?

Few. The worst that would happen is that the bulb would be thoroughly
broken -- but not ground to powder.

The other issue is what happens over a period of time. My gut feeling is
that only a little lead, from the surface of the glass, would efer leach
out.


Paying for disposal or recycling when you buy something new, or turning
in
the old item when you buy its replacement is probably the best approach.

Really? I find it a great excuse not to properly dispose of anything.
After all, there's no financial incentive. The only good thing about
this system is that it subsidizes recycling centers for handling
unprofitable wastes, such as CRTs. The only reason it exists is that
the alternatives are worse. Penalizing anyone owning something deemed
hazardous will result in CRTs getting dumped by the road side. That's
exactly what happened here during the short period when the local
"transfer station" was charging outrageous amounts (i.e. what it
really costs to handle the stuff) for disposing of CRT's.
Incidentally, the high cost was due to the classification of CRT's as
hazardous waste because of the lead content and therefore requiring
special handling. That lasted about 6 months and was replaced by the
pay in advance system you seem to favor.

I don't know. We can't continue to dump huge amounts of electronic waste
without making a reasonable effort to at least extract the useful and
dangerous components of it.

When I bought my plasma TV, I paid Magnolia an extra $50 to pick up my 32"
Toshiba IDTV. I don't know what they did with it.

Best Buy will take almost anything for (supposed recycling) for $10, then
give you the $10 back as a store credit.

Gold is now around $1000 an ounce. That's $35 a gram. Is that enough to
justify simply extracting the gold?


Now, expand the above lead handling to a wider assortment of "toxic"
substances. Do you smoke in front of your computah? Too bad because
Apple claims the residue is toxic and will not honor the warranty.

http://consumerist.com/5408885/smoki...reates-biohaza
rd-voids-warranty
Yeah, I know this is the "slipper slope" argument, but without sane
guidelines as to what constitutes hazardous, the list will grow
without bounds which seems to be what the EU now wants.

Again, I don't know. I'm a Liberal who believes in extreme government
regulation -- but these sorts of things go beyond what I consider "common
sense".

As for smoking voiding your warranty -- that's going a little far.