Devil's Advocate: High-tech rubbish

Some activities are wealth creators, the rest are fundamentally parasitic. What a naïve outlook, says columnist Martin Brampton, and here he illustrates why...

There is a lot of high-tech rubbish about. No, no, I'm not thinking about articles of mine, although a few unkind readers have suggested as much. Really, there are tons of old computers that nobody wants. Even if the UK is way behind on recycling, the European Commission is determined to raise our standards.

Predictions that this will require the price of new computers to increase have been met with protests that the extra cost will hit companies struggling out of the economic downturn. Now this is just the kind of simplistic view of the economy I have criticised on a number of occasions. This time, perhaps we should look at the specifics.

The negative view of waste management is based on the idea that we want to do some things, and other things are just an overhead we are forced to tolerate. A variation on this theme is the oft cited claim that parts of the economy are the wealth producers while the remainders are essentially parasitic.

All these ideas are false. Mostly, all the things that get done are the ones that we, collectively, decide are worth doing. Naturally, there is often disagreement about specifics, and questions may arise about exactly how influence is distributed through society. But governments can 'create wealth' quite as much as businesses can. The value of a product or service does not depend on who produces it or how it is financed.

Returning to the rubbish, we need to deal with a few practicalities first. It is rather obvious that charging at the point of disposal will not work. The government's wheeze of charging everybody a pound for every black bin bag has been met with the derision it deserves. Abandoned cars have already illustrated the point.

Paying for disposal when a product is new is the only practical way. The difficulty with current proposals is that manufacturers are to be held responsible. That could lead to further growth in cut-price disposal contractors who collect large quantities of junk, only to go into liquidation before dealing with it. Ensuring genuine recycling will be difficult when we are forcibly reminded that even very large companies can disappear over night. A good deal of government intervention will be necessary.

On the economic front, it does not follow that paying more for computers will hurt companies. That extra cost represents an income for everyone who contributes to responsible disposal, whether that is in the design of more recyclable products or in their eventual dismantling. And people with an income invariably spend it, thus becoming better customers for the companies that are paying more for computers. Taken as a whole, the economy often returns financial rewards for what seemed a mere overhead.

Charitable urges are to be applauded but there is a caveat on our enthusiasm for giving away old computers. This can seem like a cost free form of giving, since what is given is no longer worth anything to its owner. The obvious snag is that if giving computers to, say, poor countries is seen as a legitimate form of disposal, the likely outcome is a lot of dumped high-tech rubbish in countries that cannot afford to tidy up the mess.

On the broader issues, we should be cautious about branding government parasitic. Taxation is a very efficient way to raise money. While we may disagree with specific expenditures, mostly governments spend money on facilities that fundamentally contribute to the 'wealth creation' for which business likes to claim credit. Educated workers, enforceable contracts, transport infrastructures and health care are all essentials for a civilised and prosperous lifestyle.

** Martin Brampton is a director and founder of Black Sheep Research (www.black-sheep-research.co.uk ), an independent consultancy providing research, writing and speaking services on a wide range of business and technology subjects. Martin was previously a director at Bloor Research, and has worked with IT as a user and analyst for over 20 years. He is a frequent contributor to silicon.com's Behind the Headlines TV programme and can be contacted at silicon@black-sheep-research.co.uk .