What happens to your computer after you upgrade to a new model? Do you know what to do instead of trashing expensive electrical devices when they wear out? Average users do not think long before they decide to do away with their two-year "old" computer. What they do not know is that, both materials used in computer components and the manufacturing process, have devastating environmental impacts.
On the one hand, the material used for computer components production, when improperly disposed of in a standard land fill, cause environmental and public health hazard.
The hazardous materials found in the computer include lead, cadmium, barium, and mercury. As if that was not enough, the researches showed that cathode ray tubes (CRT’s) in computer monitors are hazardous waste, since they evaporate into the air and therefore are banned from landfills.
On the other hand, the process in the production of computer components is another grim site of environmental grief because the it is feed by fossil fuels. So what? The problem with the use of fossil fuels in the production of computers is two-folded.
We use much of them and we might use them up sooner than we think.
Unfortunately, most of us do not realize that there is an end to generosity of nature, that we are using non-renewable sources that took millions of years to be generated. As global oil reserves diminish, the world is being faced with a looming energy crisis that threatens almost every industry in every country in the world. By 2010 world oil production would peak, while at the same time the global population would increase by about 78 million people each year. Without more oil, we seem to be headed for disaster. But even if oil supplies were limitless, burning petroleum is also poisoning us and causing global warming. The mainstream media frequently paints a very bleak picture and offers no alternatives.
The answer to the challenge is not a simple one. It is no secret and it involves mostly the change of the attitude. Part of the solution might be by recycling computers since this process helps reduce the pollution and energy use tied to the production of new electronics.
Environmental Hazards - Fossil Fuels and Toxic Wastes
With a billion computer machines sold worldwide every year, computers pose serious environmental problems because of the growing mountains of toxic computer wastes as well as diminishing energy resource. A study by a team of environmental scientists at the United Nations University in Tokyo reveals that, weight for weight, the average computer chip does more harm to the environment than the car emissions that pollute the environment and contribute to smog, acid rain, and global warming. The researchers looked at all the chemicals, including fossil fuels such as coal, involved in turning raw quartz into a 32MB RAM microchip.It appears that the manufacturing of the tiny, wafer-thin slivers of silicon leaves behind a mountain of waste. In order to produce one memory chip that weighs two grams, it takes 1.600 grams of fossil fuels. That is 700 times the weight of the original chip.
Far more materials, such as fuels and solvents, are needed for the chip’s manufacture compared with other electronic products.
This is because of the tiny size of the chip and the need to keep it free of dirt and dust.The total sum of the fossil fuels used to make one desktop computer weigh over 240 kilograms, some 10 times the weight of the computer itself.
This is very high compared to many other goods; for an automobile or refrigerator, the weight of fossil fuels used for production is roughly equal to their weights. The environmental impacts associated with using fossil fuels (e.g. climate change), chemicals (e.g. possible health effects on microchip production workers) and water (e.g. scarcity in some areas) are significant and deserve attention.
What is Recyclable in a Computer?
Different components of a computer are recyclable to a certain extent. While some parts and materials are easily prepared for reuse, others require more expensive handling.
Recycling companies first sorted out devices that can be repaired or refurbished.
Next they recovered usable parts such as disk drives, memory and microprocessors. Then they begin separating the materials that are left.
Most common materials in personal computers are: Steel: 40 percent, Plastic: 40 percent; Aluminum: 7-10 percent; Copper: 5 percent.
The steel can be sold for scrap while printed wiring boards and components are sold for their precious metal content. Most of the plastic, which makes up the PC enclosure, the monitor housing, keyboards, mouse devices, the printer housing, and other parts, can be recycled or used as fuel in some industrial processes. The exception is when plastic cannot be completely separated from metals, rubber, or painted coatings. Then it must be incinerated or sent to landfills.
All computer-recycling programs have similar goals including giving critically needed technology to those who need it most and can afford it least, while reducing the waste that ends up in landfills. Most U.S. states have recycling programs that give computers to public schools by first soliciting computer donations from businesses and gov- ernment agencies and then refurbishing and repairing them. However, here lies the danger of burdening other countries with computers that definitely one day will have to be disposed and thus will become toxic waste to the environment. Governments should consider the hazards of donating computers, even if this is a humanitarian act, since tossing computers as we see, prompt great worldwide risks in terms of the environment.
The State of California, USA the Department of Toxics and Substance Control has clarified that it is illegal to dispose televisions and computer monitors in municipal landfills. This is only a fraction of efforts made by developed countries striving to find alternative methods to collect and recycle computer and electronic waste to find solutions to the imminent environmental crisis caused by e-waste.
The environmental benefits and economic costs of recycling computers under the European Union (EU) legislation WEEE depend very much on how the system is implemented. Recycling managed by a monopolist concern, whose main interest is meeting simple recycling targets for a fixed fee, could result in an expensive system with relatively small environmental benefit. Extending the usable life is very effective for reducing all types of burdens, but relatively few older PCs are being resold, refurbished or recycled – most are stored in warehouses, basements, or closets and eventually end up in landfills.
However, in developing world the picture is different. Inappropriate disposal of computers has to a certain degree become standard procedure for many developing economies. This means that it is in these struggling nations where the risk of toxic computer components contaminating groundwater and soil is the highest.
Each computer display contains an average of 2.75 Kg of lead. The 315 million computers that will become obsolete between 1997 and 2004 contain a total of more than 0.54 million tons of lead.
Awareness campaigns
In the U.S. environmental activists have been conducting awareness campaigns on environmental issues to develop environment- friendly solutions on the community level. They aim at exposing the residents to the threats of pollution, mainly resulting from e-waste.
Fortunately, the number of personal computers being recycled is increasing. By 2005 it is expected to reach some 60 million units a year, according to the Electronic Product Recovery and Recycling Baseline Report. The same report added that the estimated average life-span of a computer monitor is 4-7 years; of a printer or scanner, 3-5 years; and of a personal computer itself, just over 3 years. In 1998 alone, nearly 21 million computers became obsolete. Yet according to the National Recycling Coalition, only about 11 percent of computer equipment is recycled, and another 3 percent is reused.
Dealing with Environmental Hazards
Governments and corporate actors are increasingly responding to mitigate some of the problems. Measures are also being taken to reduce the content of lead, mercury and other toxic substances put into computers in the first place. But this is not nearly enough to tackle already existing situations and tolerated practices of inappropriate disposal of computer waste.
Awareness building and incentives are needed so that consumers will consider environmental issues when buying, using and finally disposing of a computer.
However, how can we raise awareness at a time when the e-waste problem is growing rapidly? Some people are addicted to the consumption drive for new e-products; buying them and throwing away "old stuff" without considering where it goes. On the other hand, the media bears the responsibility of raising people’s awareness of the harm of e-waste. Perhaps something like "e-waste task force" in every country, whether industrial or developing, could solve this problem. However, in an ideally world a systematic process should be in place, whereby discarded computer parts, after being dismantled should find themselves at a material recovery facility. Fortunately, it is being done in some parts of the world.
Preventive measures and recycling programs
When you say recycling computers it means two things, either benefiting from a computer’s components by transforming its parts into other used materials, or donating your computer, which is to a certain extent not that beneficiary as some developed countries perceive it to be.
When corporations and companies from industrialized countries export their obsolete computer equipment to developing countries, they are rescuing their environment from the computers’ toxic waste which would need to be properly disposed of constituting a large expense in so doing.
Although it is not always the case, sometime behind philanthropy lies a firm economical reason for shipping your old computers to a school in Zanzibar. It is just cheaper to donate them that to dispose of them according to the demands of environmental laws. Thus, burdening developing countries with another environmental challenge in very near future. In the era of rapid technological developments, a computer cannot last for more than five years at most. According to some interpretations, this can amount to the environmental abuse of the second party. On the other hand, donating or recycling your outdated electronics put a computer in the hands of someone who really needs it. Hence, two faces of the donation- recycling, in which the only way for donors to clear themselvesv of charges of the environmental abuse, is to stand strong in fight against improper disposal of the computers.
NewsFactor reported that Intel and National Semiconductor would start taking the lead out of their products impelled an impending deadline requiring the electronics industry to clean up its act. Intel said it would begin eliminating 95 percent of the lead used in its processors and chipsets later this year.
The company shipped its first lead-free memory chips last year, and more products would be introduced as manufacturers adapt to new materials, such as lead-free solder.
HP’s Planet Partners (TM) recycling service provides an easy way to recycle any brand of computer equipment or HP printing supplies. HP’s state-of-the-art processes ensure that your unwanted hardware or HP printing supply is recycled in a way that conserves resources. To begin the process of making a difference for the environment, simply select the type of product you want to recycle including printers or monitors and keyboards.
Returned products are reused, recycled or disposed of responsibly. Each month, HP’s worldwide recycling centers process over 3 million kg of computer-related products that have been returned by customers or generated by HP’s own operations.
The e-waste is a growing environmental concern. HP is addressing the e-waste issue at the beginning and the end of a product’s life-cycle. In the design phase, HP has a company-wide Design for Environment program that provides design guidelines to reduce the environmental impact of the products.
At the end of a product’s life, HP provides easy and convenient computer hardware recycling programs in many countries. (www.hp.com/recycle)
If we put our mind to it we can protect our planet from an imminent environmental crisis, I advise you to think thoroughly of what you can do to avert this crisis. A part of the threat lies in peoples’ reluctance to deal with the unseen. As if, not perceived means not existing. I hope the above information will upgrade your environmental responsibility firewall. If not, practice contraception and do not bear children for they will live in a polluted world without clean water and air.
Cynthia Darrous
© IT News 2004
