Well I’ll be sure to keep on the lookout for Formula-409 cooled PCs, Supertanker. :D
Until then I still want to see some evidence that a computer monitor in a landfill contaminated a well I’ll be skeptical.
Incidentally, I think it’s terrible when computer parts get thrown out. There are definitely people out there that can use even very old equipment.
I’ve worked with a lot of recycle folks, as well as R&D into better ways to recycle. Jason’s correct - almost all recycle centers are there to make money. And it is a real problem, as some cities (and companies, and nations) are finding that they can’t sell a lot of what they collect. Then what do you do with the trash? Some can’t even give it away.
Also, remember that separating the bad stuff from the inert stuff is not simple at all - it can be VERY difficult and VERY expensive to separate it, and even more difficult to separate and purify what you’ve separated to get it in a form that someone can reuse it. There’s a huge difference between recycling aluminum cans and taking a computer or TV that’s been dumped and finding a way to pull it apart, then separate out the stuff that is resusable in a way that is practical. And doing that doesn’t guarantee that the nasty stuff is going to be isolated and appropriately handled. At least one recycle center for computers that I know of isolated some materials they could resell, then threw the rest in the dump - including all of the “bad” stuff.
A lot of recycle centers have gone away because they were losing so much money. Some cities put their recycle programs on hold because they didn’t have an outlet for what they were recycling. If no one is willing to take your recycle and use it, it’s not recycle - it’s just another trash dump.
Landfills suck, but alternate waste methods aren’t all that great these days either. If you’d like to make the world a better place, and get rich too (you can donate the money to charity if being rich is a bad thing for you), develop more effective waste treatment methodolgies. Lotsa people working on that - not a huge amount of breakthroughs.
You may also be able to find a church that will take them to give to missionaries, who are perfectly happy with something that is simply able to run a word processor. Depending on who you give it to, they might be willing to take parts also, using them to build new systems or keep others working. (I have a box of parts like this waiting for our next trip to Chicago, as my mother-in-law has such a connection (i.e. knows someone, who knows someone…)).