With about 100 million TVs, monitors and computers thrown out every year, along with millions of such smaller devices as cell phones and MP3 players like Apple's popular iPods, the problem of toxic substances such as lead and mercury leaching into soil is growing, as is the dumping of such recyclable resources as gold, copper and aluminum.

Proposals are circulating in Congress for a national recycling program, but so far disagreements among manufacturers, retailers, recyclers and consumer groups have stymied action. However, representatives of those groups have been meeting in search of a common approach.

California has launched a statewide recycling program financed by a fee of up to $10 per item on consumers, while Maine and Maryland have programs based on fees paid by manufacturers. A few other states have made grants to kick start recycling.

But most states allow consumers to dispose of their discarded electronic devices. The Government Accountability Office report said the patchwork of differing state approaches could derail efforts to get a handle on electronic waste.

"Consumers have the cheaper and more convenient option of simply throwing these products away in most states,'' the report said.

"Without a fundamental change in the incentive structure affecting their decisions, such as through the implementation of a consistent nationwide financing system, consumers will continue to choose disposal as the preferable option of dealing with used electronics in the overwhelming number of states where disposal is allowed,'' it added.

The Government Accountability Office report also warned that without a nationwide system of recycling, more of the electronic waste is being sent overseas, ostensibly for refitting and resale. But all too often, the used equipment ends up in Third World dumps.

The office suggested that the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which has an Office of Solid Waste and Pollution Prevention and Toxics, take the lead by drafting a proposal setting forth a single financing mechanism to encourage recycling.

But in a letter to the office attached to the report, acting EPA Deputy Administrator Thomas Dunne rejected such a role. "While EPA has gained some expertise on the issues of financing electronics recycling ... EPA is not in the best position to choose between competing financing solutions, given that this decision is one that is fundamentally a business and economic issue, rather than an environmental issue,'' he wrote.

Congress has competing proposals, which have stalled.

For the third straight Congress, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, has introduced legislation patterned after California's year-old program that requires retailers to collect fees of $6 to $10 from consumers -- based on a device's screen size -- to pay for statewide E-waste recycling efforts. Thompson has been active in creating a small bipartisan Congressional E-Waste Working Group.

Thompson has also proposed that Congress set an example by creating a program to properly dispose of or recycle its own discarded electronics gear.

In the Senate, Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Jim Talent, R-Mo., have proposed providing an $8 tax incentive to companies that recycle the devices and $15 to consumers for turning in a TV or computer.

If Congress adopts a single approach, it presumably would pre-empt the program California has set up.

But whatever approach is adopted, the Government Accountability Office warned there is a huge stash of old electronics devices that so far haven't either been dumped or recycled. "It appears that relatively few used electronics have found their way into either landfills or recycling centers,'' it said.

It cited EPA data that show less than 4 million monitors and 8 million TVs are disposed of annually in the country, only a small fraction of the number that become obsolete each year .

That means that millions of devices are piling up in the nation's garages, attics, closets and basements, or have been shipped abroad, the report concluded.