Happy endings for cast-off PCs
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World Computer Exchange Global nonprofit organization helps the world's poorest youths bridge the information/technology gap. Donations generally go to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. www.worldcomputerexchange.org
Share the Technology Offers a free service for posting computer donations (inkjet and laser cartridges, too) online. Its database lists donations and requests from the US and other countries. www.sharetechnology.org
Help from manufacturers, too In addition, many personal-electronics manufacturers, including those listed below, offer programs to help consumers recycle used electronic products.
A more complete list may be found at Electronic Industries Alliance, Consumer Education Initiative, www.eiae.org.
Dell Computer Corp. www.dellexchange.com
HP Planet Partners www.hp.com/recycle
Canon www.usa.canon.com
Motorola www.donateaphone.com
Epson www.epson.com/recycle
Lower labor costs and lenient regulations encourage some US electronics-recycling companies to export end-of-life equipment to less-developed foreign countries. Up to 80 percent of materials collected by recyclers in North America goes abroad, according to Jim Puckett, coordinator of Basel Action Network (BAN) in Seattle.
Unlike Europe, the US has not followed the Basel Convention to control transborder movement of e-waste, Mr. Puckett says. The international agreement was signed in Switzerland in 1989 by 36 countries, including the US.
Despite China's import ban on toxic substances, huge volumes of old electronics arrive there daily. When China turns waste exporters away, other countries, including Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines accept them.
BAN recommends a two-pronged solution for proper and safe disposal of e-waste:
1. Stop managers of landfills from exporting hazardous materials to developing countries where a cheap labor force works in unsafe conditions.
2. Require manufacturers to take back used electronics and dispose of them safely. This step may lead producers to use fewer toxic materials in future products.
"Manufacturers should build computers with fewer toxic chemicals and design them for easy disassembly and [with] parts that snap together to allow simpler upgrading instead of discarding outdated machines," says Ted Smith, executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC), a group in San Jose, Calif. working to change the electronic export business.
But that will mean overcoming a cost incentive: One EPA study in California found the cost of dismantling and reusing the materials in a typical computer monitor was about 10 times the cost of shipping it to China.
If you take equipment to a recycler, find out if the recycler follows international procedures for exporting materials. "At present many recyclers are getting a free ride. They're collecting money at the front end from consumers, who think their contributions are being recycled in this country, and then selling to developing countries at the back end," says Puckett.
BAN and SVTC are now pressing recyclers to sign a pledge to not export e-waste. Already 16 private recycling companies have agreed to comply.
