We like recycling. Sure, society's habits need to change in some fundamental ways to make life on earth truly sustainable, but disposing of our newspapers and beer bottles in a responsible way makes us feel a little more confident that the environment isn't irrevocably f'ed.
E-waste–our global deluge of discarded electronics–is especially hard to deal with though. The pace of technological progress renders whole formats obsolete in the span of a few short years, and things like computers and cell phones are often made with toxic components.
It would be really nice if manufacturers took responsibility for the environmental burdens of their products. That trend is gaining some momentum, but it's not neo-liberal economists clamoring for companies to bear responsibility for these externalities (they only care in theory). It's consumers. Like us.
The Take Back My TV campaign is one example of ordinary consumers demanding that companies give them ways of disposing of TVs they can live with.
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