Salon has an informative article (subscription or brief click-through ad required to get to it) on the benefits and drawbacks of California's new computer recycling law, which will add an extra $6 to $10 to the cost of monitors, flat panel displays, laptops, and TVs sold in the state. The goal is good -- get people to recycle the hardware, or at least turn it in to a registered disposal center, instead of dumping the toxic trash into the waste stream -- but the mechanism may not be the best one around, as it puts the onus on the consumer to do something. Maine has a better idea, one which echoes EU policy, requiring manufacturers to be responsible for recycling, pushing them to use less-toxic (and more readily reused) materials in production. Check it out.