TODAY'S COMPUTER MONITOR IS TOMORROW'S TOXIC WASTE.

Byline: Dawn C. Chmielewski Freedom News Service

Your personal computer is one toxic cocktail.

The monitor is a cathode ray tube with high levels of lead in the glass and mercury, cadmium and phosphorous trapped in the vacuum. The circuit boards contain small amounts of heavy metals. The battery, if you own a laptop, holds corrosive chemicals. Even the media - the floppies and compact disks - are encased in metal that, once released into the atmosphere, contributes to acid rain.

And nothing, save your conscience, prevents you from dumping the works in the local landfill.

Sure, one PC is no big deal. But as many as 14 million will go out of commission this year, joining the 79 million computers that have already been retired, according to the Gartner Group, a market research firm based in Stamford, Conn.

Not all of those PCs head straight for the county dump. The Gartner Group estimates that 65 percent become ``closetfill,'' gathering dust in unused recesses of corporate offices or warehouses. An additional 15 percent are scrapped or recycled, and an equal number are resold.

The obsolescence cycle is accelerating as individuals and corporations need to buy ever more powerful processors to handle new versions of software. A new PC loses half its value within 12 months. In four years, it will be worth just 5 percent of the original purchase price.

All of which contributes to the quandary of what to do with your old PC. Here, the rules differ for individuals and corporations.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency classifies the PC monitor and circuit boards as hazardous waste. But the rules for proper disposal only apply to corporations.

For example, large companies must seek out CRT glass recyclers to prevent the lead-containing glass from becoming an environmental pollutant. And they have to identify a dismantler to pluck the printed circuit boards and heavy metals from each PC before disposing of it.

``Penalties are steep: The fine can reach $25,000 for each CRT disposed of improperly.''

``Individuals and small businesses right now, they're exempt. You can throw your computer in the trash. You could throw your monitor in the trash,'' said David Jones, who heads the Environmental Protection Agency's regional Common Sense Initiative.

To find a solution for the pollution, the EPA funds an experimental curbside PC recycling program in San Francisco. The goal is to find a way to salvage the hardware, making it at least a break-even proposition, Jones said.

Another pilot program planned for San Jose would use a retail center - Mailboxes, Etc. - as a collection point for unwanted PCs. It would act as the distribution agent.

The trick is persuading people when to let go, and let the hardware go to its ``highest, best use,'' Jones said.