It is much better to recycle than to throw things out. That is a good general rule to live by. The more we throw things out, the more we fill up our landfills or the more we place in incinerators that pollute the air.

But this warning applies most particularly in the case of electronic devices that we no longer wish to have. For example, computers. There are environmental reasons why these gadgets must be properly disposed of and not included with your regular household waste.

Electronic waste has a new name. It is called "e-waste." It includes computers and copy machines and all of those other now almost throw away electronics that we have in our home. It is anticipated by the National Safety Council that some 500 million computers will be taken out of regular use by homeowners and businesses through the year 2007.

Millions of old computers and television sets and other electronic appliances will be thrown out by their owners. And doing so will mean that they will often fillour landfills or our incinerators. Many of these electronic marvels contain hazardous substances such as metals and organic compounds. Often, these substances contain lead, chromium, mercury, gold, and silver. Not only can many of these substances be successfully recycled, but in a landfill or in a stack emission from an incinerator, they can cause harm.

Lead is associated with cerebral impairment and mercury is associated with all kinds of illnesses. Children are particularly prone to harm from these kinds of contaminants.

How do these contaminants make it from a landfill into something that your child drinks, eats or touches? There are several ways. The metals can find there way in the groundwater and the groundwater can be consumed by a family that has a potable drinking water well. Or there could be runoff from the landfill in which rain carries the contaminated soil onto your property.

If there is a fire at the landfill, the smoke may contain contaminated particles. And if these substances are incinerated, they can either be released into the air during the incineration process, or they can be found in the residue from the burning process which is often taken to a landfill and that process starts over again.

California recently enacted a state wide law that requires collection and recycling of many of these electronic devices. It also requires manufacturers to attempt to minimize reliance on these hazardous materials in the products that they sell. Retailers impose a modest fee to help fund the program. It includes a $6.00 fee for devices of the smaller nature up to a $10.00 fee for larger devices. Most people would clearly be willing to pay such a small amount to help protect the environment.

Other states also have recycling programs that attempt to block the inclusion of these electronic devices into our landfills. Does your county or state have such a program? If not, please consider writing to your local environmental regulators or state government representatives and show them what California has recently done. There is no good reason why what California has done cannot be replicated everywhere in the Country.

The information provided in this column is written by Stuart Lieberman,a practicing environmental attorney, and is for general information purposes only. It is not legal advice and should not be used in place of legal advice.

Stuart Lieberman, Esq., and IRED.Com, Inc., will not accept any responsibilty for any reliance on the information in this column or any damages whatsoever resulting from reading this column.