Computer Hardware in our trash.
What’s the enviromental impact ?
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 1 percent to 4 percent of all solid waste generated in this country comes from consumer electronics. That percentage is likely to grow as more and more people add PCs, cell phones, DVD players and other gadgets to their collections. Only about 10 percent of all pc’s are recycled in the U.S., meaning millions of computers could be leaking harmful chemicals into groundwater. (Some states, like Massachusetts, ban TV sets and computer monitors from landfills outright.) Even in the case of that 10 percent, not all the recycling is done in an environmentally friendly way. It’s far cheaper to send electronic waste to federal prisons or overseas to be broken down into raw materials, often by poor workers who don’t take the proper precautions to protect themselves or the environment.
What components cause concern ?
Basically, anything with a circuit board should be of concern to us. There’s a lot of stuff in a circuit board that you really don’t want to ingest. Lead, mercury, cadmium and beryllium all have been shown to have harmful effects on humans. Older monitors and televisions are especially bad to the enviroment because of all the lead used in the cathode ray tube (CRT) to shield the viewer from radiation. The cases of PCs and monitors are also made of plastics that give off toxic fumes if they’re burned.
How can we discard these items responsibly? 
- Rich, Sarah (6/28/2006). High Tech Trash. Retrieved September 11, 2008, from Worldchanging Web site: http://worldchanging.com/archives/004610.html
- Marshall, John (2008-03-27 ). Disposal of household special wastes. Retrieved September 11, 2008, from Statitics Canada Web site: http://www.statcan.ca/english/freepub/16-002-XIE/2008001/10539-en.htm
- Currie, Donna (2005, March ). Who is responsible for computer recycling? Retrieved September 11, 2008, from American Recycler Web site: http://www.americanrecycler.com/0305who.shtml
September 13, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Alex,
Excellent post on a very important topic that should be addressed now not later. You would think that after watching the results of many poor industrial practices that harmed the environment from the early days of the industrial revolution, we all would have learned our lesson. Plans should have been put into place years ago to deal with this up coming massive increase in electronics use. This most certainly has not come as a shock to anyone. I personally do not disagree with giving these materials to developing countries to recycle if they have setup the proper facilities to handle them, it does create jobs for them, and the facilities need to be managed, maintained, and used correctly. It should be the responsibility of their governments to manage those industries. I do not feel that washes our hands of it though, we should host regular inspections as well as a be a beacon of good example.
I hope we will all adopt the attitude of leaving the Earth cleaner than when we arrived.
September 13, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Wow! This was a huge eye opener for me Alex. I can’t believe the amount of waste computers and other electronic gadgets create. I thought most people donated or gave away old computers. I will definitely do my part to inform my friends and family on how to be more responsible when disposing of electronics in the future. Thank you for all of your great statistical information and tips on how to recycle the right way. Great Job!
September 13, 2008 at 10:22 pm
This blog is very informative on the dilemma of post computer hardware. Simply passing this problem on to third world countries, in taking advantage of their cheap labor, does not make the problem go away. This is the world we live in, the only one. Regardless of where we pollute our planet with these hazardous waste materials, the children of tomorrow will be victims of the resulting effects.
More focus, and responsibility needs to be directed to both the consumer and computer hardware industries as whole in addressing these issues. The more we return natural resources back to the earth in the form of hazardous waste makes the earth less hospitable for us all.
September 14, 2008 at 3:55 am
I really enjoyed reading your post. I never thought about recycling computers, but it makes sense–it’s just like recycling a battery, or printer ink!
I think that it is important for people to understand that a single action from one person can snowball into a global nightmare—or, on the brighter side, a single action can create a global awakening and even a step towards rejuvenation!
September 15, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Thank you for the well-researched treatise on electronics recycling. A coworker of mine is particularly interested in this subject, and regularly submits articles on the topic to our staff newsletter, and his articles have reported similar statistics.
If you are looking for ways to dispose of such things in Richmond, the University of Richmond has previously held e-Waste recycling events, one of which is discussed in this article from last year– http://oncampus.richmond.edu/news/oct07/eWaste.html. The City of Richmond periodically has hazardous waste recycling days, which may be helpful for anyone in the area. Another helpful resource would be the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority, whose website is located at http://www.cvwma.com/.
September 20, 2008 at 3:18 pm
To be quite honest I had never thought about where the waste goes, or the fact that it is toxic. I have never had to dispose of a computer before. Unfortunately to get the word out for disposing of electronics would take advertising of some sort, or the person who is disposing of the product doing some research. Unfortunately advertising costs too much money, and consumers are sometimes too busy to do the research of how to dispose of the electronics properly. If we don’t start taking care of our world, who will?
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