Why must one pay to recycle computers and other electronics while its free to dump these items in the trash?

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If one wishes to recycle an electronic item, there is a fee to do so. However, disposing of these items in the form of trash is absolutely free. One problem: the environment is damaged as a result of simply trashing these electronics. Through a simple cost-benefit analysis, it seems clear that, for a consumer, trashing the electronics is the best option. The cost of trashing the electronic is zero, whereas the cost of recycling the product is some dollar amount. The zero cost option should win out. However, by trashing the items, there is a cost that consumers suffer. The cost of pollution that is created as a result of trashing the item is shared by fellow consumers, even if they are not involved in the original transaction. It may not even be a cost suffered by the original consumer, as a generation or two may pass before the resultant pollution has an effect on other consumers. A consumer’s choice to dispose of an electronic via the trash causes an externality. An externality is present when a party not involved in the transaction is affected by the transaction. In this case, the externality would be a negative externality, as fellow consumers are hurt by the consumer’s choice to trash an electronic instead of recycle it, seeing as pollution would occur, harming the environment and lowering the living conditions of another consumer. A negative externality is also known as a spillover cost. All in all, the government expects consumers to act responsibly and do whatever they can to cease in the creation of spillover costs when preventable. Thus, although it may be cheaper to trash an electronic item, the government trusts that people will see the small monetary cost of recycling as a lesser cost than the resulting spillover cost by trashing instead of recycling. The example of trashing electronics instead of recycling them is not the only way

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