"Our electronic waste pick-up service is free for all residents of Northern California, CA."
OP is likely assuming they operate like my local dump/recycling center where they record my drivers license info every time I visit and drop something off (electronic or otherwise). Believe it or not they used to physically write down the data, now they swipe. Locally they don't tag what I drop off individually with my ID but they do have my ID on file as a visitor on a certain date.
I have no idea why they collect the data as opposed to mere verification. I suspect its something along the lines of a large difference between resident rates (free) vs business rates (if you have to ask, you can't afford it)
I don't know how good that assumption is. I recently visited my local dump in Fairfax County, VA to drop off a used fire extinguisher and nobody recorded anything.
The article explicitly says he did not collect her information. Is the argument being made that he is lying about that detail of the story? To what end?
huh that's interesting, I missed that and in my mental model of op's theory, op obviously also missed it, for the model to make any sense.
I talked to a coworker and in his village they also gather visitor data, and for environmental reasons the recycle center will never turn hazmat away, ever, but the data is forwarded to the city who will lean very heavily on business owners who try to use free resident hazmat instead of paying for commercial hazmat disposal. With lead free solder and RoHS I wonder if some day we'll reclassify electronics (at least modern lead free electronics) as plain old garbage instead of hazmat.
There are, probably, many political ways to organize hazmat collection and its funding, some of which aren't going to make sense to outsiders.
