Reducing e-Waste and disposing of e-Waste

[K. Eng]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 984183.htm

Hazardous electronic waste dumping has spread from East Asia to Africa under the guise of bridging the so-called digital divide in poverty-stricken societies, an environmental advocacy group contends in a new report released today.

Seattle-based Basel Action Network documented scenes of e-waste dumping and burning in Lagos, Nigeria, in its report, ``The Digital Dump: Exporting Re-Use and Abuse to Africa.'' The group said as many as 500 shipping containers filled with discarded computers enter the port of Lagos primarily from North America and Europe every month. Most of this material is not reusable and gets dumped or burned, posing environmental and human health hazards, the report said.
...

I've also read disturbing reports that parts of India are serving as dumping grounds for highly toxic e-Waste.

What can be done to (1) reduce generation of e-Waste and (2) responsibly dispose of it?

I have tried to keep my e-Waste to a minimum by buying and disposing of as few gadgets as possible and using rechargeable batteries whenever possible.

Sometimes a local Staples store will have free disposal of CRT monitors and other computer equipment, but how do we know that this stuff is actually getting recycled and not being carted off to Africa to be burnt in a pile?

This is worrisome, given that computers seem to have a lot of toxic stuff in them.

[Kyocera]

I saw a special a few years back about companies that take computers and strip them for recycling, it appeared to be legit and profitable. As long as some profit can be made companies will find ways to recycle. Unfortunately that is the bottom line. Out at our local landfill there are stacks of old computers and printers, pretty sure they haul them off to another pile somewhere else, I might ask next time I'm out there.

[egibbs]

Your basement can save the world!

In my basement I have a Commodore 64 with tape drive , an NEC Multispeed laptop (4.77 AND 8 Mhz, dual floppy, what's a hard drive?), a generic 486-50 DX2 desktop (3 GB HDD), a Packard Bell Pentium 90 (they used to make a hell of a projector), a couple monitors and printers, and at least one of every speed modem ever made from 150 baud right up to cable. My T20 750 Mhz still sees daily use by my kid, and when it finally retires it too will join the party.

I just can't bring myself to dispose of perfectly good technology - all these machines were working the last time I used them and I feel I owe them something.

I had tentative plans to support myself in retirement by opening a computer museum, but am now considering declaring myself a small African nation and applying to the World Bank for aid.

Ed Gibbs

[BillMorrow]

Your basement can save the world!

.

.

.

I had tentative plans to support myself in retirement by opening a computer museum, but am now considering declaring myself a small African nation and applying to the World Bank for aid.

Ed Gibbs

i don't think you will qualify unless you are black..

besides, all those old electronics are a rare storehouse of hard to find electronic parts and components..
so it might be that you won't qualify for a loan but will corner the market on antique electronic spare parts and thus one of the richer african nations behind nigeria with all those billions of unclaimed dollars once belonging to some corrupt and now deceased official..!

[dsvochak]

K. Eng wrote:

"What can be done to (1) reduce generation of e-Waste and (2) responsibly dispose of it?"

Not an expert in the technology so I can't address (2). But there are a lot of things we could to about (1).

In the U.S. at least, this is, in part, another example of a conflict between a social goal and our system of laws, e.g. the federal tax code. The old maxim "If it ain't broke don't fix it" isn't applicable when issues like the investment tax credit and depreciation make it more advantageous from an income tax standpoint to replace perfectly good equipment than to keep using it. And in certain cases, it's more advantageous under the tax code to throw something away, so that it has a tax value of $0 and is therefore a complete loss, than it is to recycle.

In East Lansing, MI, it costs $55 dollars to dispose of a junk humidifier or other device containing "freon" (or whatever it is they're using now). $15 dollars for a bulk refuse sticker, $40 to deal with the freon. In Detroit, the city still does it for free.

Another issue. About a year ago I took a Harmon Kardon cassette deck to a stereo shop to see if I could get it repaired. It turned out to need a $5 belt which would cost a standard $95 to install. The guy behind the repair desk was the one who suggested I go to a big box store and get another cassette deck for less money.

An axiom that always applies is "Money talks and [censored] walks". If it costs more to throw something away than it does to keep using it you'll probably keep using it.

[K. Eng]

$100 to repair a tape deck?

I would just buy the part and try to fix it myself...

I've gone and bought a NiMH battery charger and 4 NiMH AA batteries:

http://www.mahaenergy.com/store/item.asp?idproduct=352

The charger itself is very lightweight. It is a 'smart' charger that supposedly can even revive dead NiMH batteries.

I'll probably get more NiMH batteries if these work out well. I don't use that many AAs, but over the years I've probably used up a lot of Alkalines. NiMH can go through a couple hundred charge cycles and don't have much in the way of toxic materials. I've read that battery manufacturers (like Duracell) don't really push NiMH because they make far more money on Alkalines.

[dsvochak]

"$100 to repair a tape deck?

I would just buy the part and try to fix it myself... "

The problem was in order to replace the belt you had to remove the head mechanism. In order to get it to work when you put it back together, you needed the equipment to make sure the heads were aligned. The $100 was basically for use of the equipment. I offered $50 but they wouldn't take it. Which is interesting because instead of $50 gross income they got $0. Multiply that by a lot of customers and you're out of business.

There was an interesting editorial in today's Detroit Free Press titled "Tech Trash" which appears to not yet be available on line. If anyone wants, I'll edit this post and provide a link when it's available.

In any case, the relevant quotes are as follows, with my editorial comments in brackets

"Michigan officials estimate only 5% of e-waste is approriately recycled. The state is, however, on the right track, tightening up its computer-disposal practices and paying Dell a $21 "recovery fee" for the eventual proper disposal of each of the 7,500 new PC's going into the Department of Human Services." [which doesn't explain why the state apparently bought from Dell rather than IBM, but is nice that Dell appears to be assuming some sort of recycling obligation]

"High tech industries do not build their products with recycling in mind. They might, though, if they knew most of those products were eventually going to be returned." [and especially if high tech industries knew they were going to have to pay the environmental clean up costs if they didn't "appropriately recycle"]

As far as rechargable batteries, I use them all the time and have for years. The only problem becomes what you do with it when it will no longer recharge.

Even though East Lansing is relatively enlightened in this regard, you have to hunt for someone to take it. If you want people to recycle, it has to be something that's easy to do. If it's hard to do (either in time or money) it won't happen.

In a way, eBay and other on-line auction sites and used equipment sellers are providing a significant amount of "recycling" which has probably reduced e-waste by some significant amount. All I really mean by this is the on-line sites make it easier to recycle equipment than putting an ad in your local paper.

I'm writing this on a T23. It will only be replaced in two circumstances: 1) Doesn't work anymore and can't be fixed; 2) Doesn't run some software that I need (not some software that I want, software I need--there's a big difference).

Whether the reason to replace this machine is 1 or 2 above, the first places I would look are eBay, IBM Used equipment and the "For Sale/Wanted" forum here. In either case, I'm likely to pay less than if I buy new and I save a machine from becoming e-waste.

I've only got a disposal problem if the reason is 1 above. And only to the extent that I can't strip the broken machine and use the parts in the T21 and the other T23's we've got. Which significantly reduces my concerns.

On the other hand, it doesn't do much to keep the people making the new machines working.

[K. Eng]

Yeah, I'm going to use this T40 until it completely blows out Unfortunately, I hope it doesn't die on me before the end of 2006, because I want to wait a few months to see how the next generation of notebooks pans out before I consider buying anything new.

But given the fact that this T40 has had 2 catestrophic system board failures, I'm not sure how long it will keep operating. Well, I had bad luck twice, so maybe the third system board will be a keeper!

re: disposing of rechargeables - I've found that places that collect recycleables here in PA are actually more willing to take NiMH batteries over single use batteries. I'm guessing its because NiMH cells have very low toxicity.

[GomJabbar]

Another article much along the lines of the original one posted by the OP. This is from The Washington Post, Published December 12, 2005, Link: 'Digital Dumps' Heap Hazards at Foreign Sites

What is different about the exports to Africa, said Puckett, is that unusable equipment sent under the guise of recycling is also being trashed.
-----------------------
Reuse advocates such as Jim Lynch of San Francisco-based CompuMentor, which provides technology assistance to nonprofits, believe that extending the life of a computer by putting it into the reuse market is an environmentally sound solution. But many of the electronics that BAN members saw in and around the Ikeja "Computer Village" in Lagos were shipped by what Puckett called "waste cowboys acting as e-scrap brokers." Both said there are legitimate nonprofits that arrange donations of tested, working equipment to qualifying recipients, but much of the unusable equipment dumped in Lagos comes in with the large lots of used electronics imported as commercial resale.
------------------------
The United States, unlike the European Union and Japan, has no government-mandated system for recycling used electronics -- and no regulations to prevent the export of high-tech equipment for environmentally unsound recycling.

The United States also remains the only developed country that has not ratified the Basel Convention, a treaty designed to control international trade in hazardous waste. "This makes the U.S. a haven for a renegade scrap trade," Lynch said.

[wingman]

//begin rant

I use stuff until literally, it falls apart. This is part of the reason why I own a thinkpad. It should, if taken care of correctly, last for a long time. I have never thrown away a computer come to think of it. I have an old Sinclair in my basement (still in the box complete with recipiets, everything!).
I currenty have an AMD K-6 533 (rescued from a 8 year old with a screwdriver) running as a proxy, a 733 P3 (rescued from the dumpster) running as a media encoder, a 1.8 Duron desktop that I use to watch movies and hold my music, my thinkpad, and two older laptops (an old toshiba (runs network logging, security tools) and a comaq (hey it was free!). All of these computers run and see regular use, with the exception of my thinkpad and desktop, they all live in my closet but run all the time). I can't bring myself to throw stuff away.
When I go to buy new stuff, I usually sell off some old stuff to help pay for it! I know it is cliche, but running linux on some of the older hardware has kept it around my place for much longer than it should.
I think we as a society demand things to be cheap and disposable. How many cell phones, tvs, etc. do we really need?
I do feel guilty as I have gone through a lot of cell phones in the last few years (more than I can count acutally) but they all get sold or otherwise donated to shelters for further use.
I think the key is going to be finding ways to reuse our existing hardware with a minium of fuss. Trying to stop market forces is futile however. I used to work in tech support and heard more than a few times about how people wanted to get the fastest computer they could and were dissapointed when it was just as fast as their old computer. Why? Software bloat and the fact that your 3.4 GHZ P4 with 4 GB of RAM will connect at the same 56k dialup speed as my 333 Mhz k-6 with 32 mb of RAM.

//end rant

If you have not read the above rambling of a nerd and want a summary: I am a junk collector with a ton of old computers. We need to find an economically viable way to recycle old hardware or otherwise reuse it.

[AlphaKilo470]

Hmm, I've pretty much been going through one phone a year since 2003 but I still have the discarded phones in a desk drawer. I've also gone through a few PDA's in the last few years but the ones I no longer have either got parted or given or sold to friends. My old PalmPilot Pro is now used by one of my classmates and my old blue Visor Deluxe is now used by my sister. When a friend of mine gave me their old Palm IIIc, that helped bring closer an end to my dependance on AAA batteries. There's also a Palm IIIxe at my desk in case I need a spare.

I also have a few ancient ThinkPads, one that sits around as a spare, my main one and one that I loaned to a friend. I'm pondering whether or not I want to sell my 380ED.

I have a ton of old desktop parts I'd like to get rid of maybe in exchange for small money or something I have use for (these include a few PII motherboards/cpu's and several various boards and old HS's) that I'm trying to get rid of.

Disposal wise, well, I guess I can say that if anyone has a PII or better notebook they need to get rid of that's in working shape, I'm the one to talk to. Being a student who's broke and has a 166mhz ThinkPad as his best portable computer isn't always fun. Sure I have an Athlon desktop at home but all the computing power in the world is no good when taking notes at a desk in school if it's stuck at home.

I'd say one of the best ways to get rid of stuff is the internet and garage sales. You can usually get rid of your junk without throwing it away and while making a dollar or two.

[tfflivemb2]

Disposal wise, well, I guess I can say that if anyone has a PII or better notebook they need to get rid of that's in working shape, I'm the one to talk to. Being a student who's broke and has a 166mhz ThinkPad as his best portable computer isn't always fun. Sure I have an Athlon desktop at home but all the computing power in the world is no good when taking notes at a desk in school if it's stuck at home.

Wow, Alpha... You actually had me stop and think a second about whether or not I had an extra 600/600E laying around that I could donate to you. I couldn't imagine still carrying around one of the 760's that I have.

[AlphaKilo470]

Well, thanks for the consideration, I do appreciate it.

As for carrying the computer, well, imagine it. Whenever there's an essay to write or an important set of notes to take or anything else which paper and pen or my Palm can't take the job of, I carry around my 8lb 760ED with me. Thanks to that computer, my arm muscles have never been in better shape. Well, I have a computer that can run office and the screen on this computer is very good, if nothing else. I replaced the mobo and vid card so I could install the XGA screen I had laying around and it is razor sharp.

[dsvochak]

A somewhat interesting update on the current state of US Governmental thinking on this issue
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124216,00.asp# along with links to "..some organizations that can help you get rid of your old gear now".