Help recycle computers to new uses, get fined by the government.

Computer recycler threatened by bureaucratic nightmare – Boing Boing

Let’s imagine that you set up a non-profit to recycle electronics and divert computers from going directly into landfills or otherwise being destroyed by a grinder. You look for ways to refurbish these components and possibly recombine them into functional computers that go out to areas and institutions that have difficulty obtaining computers. You do all this and then a government inspector drops in one day. You expect to pass the inspection but no. Instead, you get written up.

The inspector says that you don’t have a proper inventory of all the parts. The inspector says that you have to get rid of equipment after a year, so you’ll have to clear out your museum of collectibles. This is the letter of the law and you’re expected to follow it. You’re given 30 days to comply. Now, if this really was you, you might get upset. You’d see all the work you’ve done about to be undone, unravelled. It seems nobody cares that you’re in this mess and the government, which seems to promote and support environmental cleanup, is using narrow interpretations of its regulations to block the operations of a group engaged in precisely this kind of activity.