Andy Holt wrote:
  Now I can't really believe you, there can't be
such a big difference
 within the EU.
 The UK govt's "gold plating" of the Waste Electrical and Electronic
 Equipment Directive (2002/96/EC)  tends to make UK businesses and
 Universities very wary of how they dispose of "obsolete" (typically 3 year
 old) computers. 
The university that I work at has a policy that we are not even allowed
to give old hardware away, let alone sell it. I believe that the
thinking goes, that if we sell/give away equipment then we qualify as a
supplier and have the problem that if a piece of equipment subsiquently
catches fire and burns someone's house down then we could be found liable.
Cheers.
Phill.