The end consumer is expected to act in a responsible manner in disposal. The local municipality is supposed to have a means to collect and make this convenient to the consumer. The company contracted by the municipality to recycle this material responsibly is supposed to follow it's mandate.
However the reality is when dealing with a well known toxin such as lead which is present in so many products all of the above are failure points.
And too often for whatever reasons some or all of the persons or organizations tasked with this responsibility fail.
I completely agree with Anonymous Coward on this point. There are just far to many points of falure in the recycling process which most people are not aware of, hell most people arent aware of how toxic the components in their PC's are.
Over the spring, during a river cleanup, I picked a PC out of a small trash heap in a public park(among the other things found was a small dishwasher). I'm living in what I thought was a fairly clean city (Milwaukee, WI). Then about month ago I picked up a trashed audio amp off the street and 2 computers in my neighbors trash bin.
I attached a link to the CBS 60-Minutes artical with video of the actual e-wasteland for easy reference.
Term, holidays, term, holidays, till we leave school, and then work, work, work till we die. -- C.S. Lewis