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Toxic technology
It's not PC to trash your old PC. See what some companies are doing to encourage consumers to recycle their old computers. |
By Rik Fairlie
Editor, Computer Shopper
(5/29/02)
Computers that are retired but not recycled make "e-waste" both conspicuous and concerning.
E-waste on the rise
While discarded electronic goods represent only approximately 1 percent of the U.S. waste stream, the EPA says it may soon become a torrent. As technological advances send more and more systems down the river, electronic goods will become a continuously larger portion of the total waste.
And a very dangerous one: A typical computer CRT may contain up to 8 pounds of lead, according to the EPA. Mercury and cadmium are commonly found in other computer components. When these toxic boxes are dumped in traditional landfill sites, the hazardous substances can seep into the water supply. If the products are incinerated, the resulting airborne ash can sully the environment.
| A typical computer CRT may contain up to 8 pounds of lead; mercury and cadmium are commonly found in other computer components. |  |
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But it's also time for makers and sellers of computer equipment to talk trash. They should educate consumers on recycling and design programs that make it painless and inexpensive--or free.
Reprogrammed to recycle
A few PC vendors in the United States have initiated, with little fanfare, programs to recycle PCs, monitors, and printers. These options cost consumers less than $50 and typically require them to ship equipment to a third-party partner. The equipment is then either refurbished and donated to charity or mined for valuable parts that can be salvaged.
IBM's PC recycling service allows consumers and businesses to recycle any combination of PCs, monitors, and printers for $29.99 per box (with a maximum weight of 69 pounds per box), shipping included. Users box up the equipment and send it to Envirocycle, an EPA-certified recycling center, which either refurbishes the products and donates them to charity or salvages their parts for use in new devices.
Hewlett-Packard's Planet Partners program makes recycling painless by including pickup of used computer goods. Functioning products are donated to charity, and those that are not are recycled in an environmentally sound process. HP says users pay $13 to $34 per piece of equipment recycled. A desktop PC and monitor would cost $46.
| All computer vendors should guarantee easy, inexpensive recycling, and they should make planning for recycling a part of the initial purchasing process. | |
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Dell aims to make the program simple by enabling customers to initiate recycling via its Web site. "We think the most important thing to encourage consumer recycling is finding easy and low-cost options for consumers," says Dell spokesman Bryant Hilton. "We're going to continue to look at what we can do to keep it low-cost."
Ensuring a clean environment shouldn't be a profit center for PC vendors, and Dell says it isn't. The company aims to break even on its Exchange program. "There is some residual value in every system, such as plastics and glass, that can be reused. During the recycling process, those products are recovered and sold back to manufacturers," Hilton says. "This allows us to cover the costs of the program, and therefore, keep the program free for consumers."
The vendor best poised to make recycling a reality, however, is Gateway, which operates 274 Country Store retail locations in the United States. The company currently provides discounts for customers who recycle their PCs, but they still must ship the computers to a charity or to Gateway's recycling partner. A spokesman says Gateway is considering an arrangement that would allow customers to drop off PCs for recycling at its retail stores, which would provide a solid solution for consumers.
More needs to be done
While Dell, HP, and IBM should be applauded for their environmental efforts, they haven't gone quite far enough. All computer vendors should guarantee easy, inexpensive recycling. And they should make planning for recycling a part of the initial purchasing process, educating customers that they'll need to responsibly dispose of the system they're buying, as well as the one they're replacing.
Beyond PC makers, we need a broad infrastructure--a partnership of local governments, retailers, and manufacturers--to collect and recycle e-waste. Municipal governments should take the lead, but PC makers and retailers shouldn't shun their ecological responsibilities.
Finally, everyday users need to be environmentally aware. Recycling electronic goods is a new concept to most people, and many may not know the ecological hazards of just tossing the equipment out with the rest of the trash. We are all obligated to preserve the environment, even if it requires bothersome chores such as boxing up a defunct system and shipping it to a recycling center.
Do you have ideas on how to make recycling computer equipment easier? If so, TalkBack to me!
Rik Fairlie is the editor of Computer Shopper magazine. Questions or comments? Let us know.
