The issue (that only partially has been solved by the WEEE directives in Europe) is the same as most of the issues when money is involved. The best form of rec

The issue (that only partially has been solved by the WEEE directives in Europe) is the same as most of the issues when money is involved. The best form of recycling is of course repairing, you only throw away (and need to dispose of) a tiny piece of (metal, plastic, etc.) instead of having to dispose kilograms or tons of the same stuff (the whole whatever). But the point is "who is gonna pay for disposal?" a part of the WEEE directives (related to solar panels) goes into the right direction but still, see the previous thread here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13250584 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13250584 The manufacturer saves today but will (maybe) pay tomorrow. The only way (unfortunately not very practical) is to have manufacturers deposit today (in some sort of fund) the sum that will be needed tomorrow for disposals, with some sort of scale so that longer lasting products will need less money to be deposited or maybe allowing the withdrawal of a quote of the deposit after some lasting performance has been measured, that would make them think about the opportunity of making shorter or longer lasting (or non-repairable vs. repairable) devices.