Recently, a bill in Congress was sponsored to charge consumers a fee on the purchase of computers and TVs to fund a nationwide recycling program. But a new study by Competitive Enterprise Institute Adjunct Scholar Dana Joel Gattuso says that government recycling mandates are the wrong way to go. “The best outcome for consumers and the environment is for government to get out of the recycling business altogether. Despite good intentions, government mandates only create barriers to successful private efforts to recycle and reuse electronics. Much of the waste can safely be landfilled, while the rest can and is being handled by manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, and nonprofits. These efforts will only succeed and grow if government gets out of the way.”