What is Digg?78 Comments
- jubilee123, on 12/28/2007, -1/+2412% or 21%?
- fuzzynyanko, on 12/28/2007, -1/+22Unfortunately in some regions, there isn't an easy-to-get-to electronics recycling center.
- jd33, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1921% of consumers recycle 12% of their electronics, 2.1% of the time.
- norman619, on 12/28/2007, -1/+17Well when you look at how inconvenient it is to recycle your junk electronics it's not a big surprise most people choose not to recycle.
- Lynxpro, on 12/28/2007, -0/+6I think it would be a better idea to set up non-profits that could take the old PCs and installed Boinc/Folding@home/etc. onto the machines and had them crunch the units until the machines actually physically wore/burnt out and then sent them to be recycled. Because if the machines are recycled before they truly are worn out, there is still an environmental waste factor despite the recycling do-gooder'ism Al Gore approval backslapping.
Of course, the electricity bill would be pretty large and probably would only be realistic in areas that had municipal power generation [for example, in terms of California...Los Angeles and Sacramento]. - Pake, on 12/28/2007, -1/+6I've searched for practically an hour to find a place in NC to recycle my old computer crap and found nothing. Ended up just chucking them in the trash. The amount of hurdles you have to go through just to find a recycling place is ridiculous and they want to know why hardly anyone recycles.
- Coffeedemon, on 12/28/2007, -0/+5All the lead and mercury getting into the groundwater will probably make you sterile anyway.
- baalzebub, on 12/28/2007, -0/+5i just delivered a broken 17 inch monitor to the local recycle center, and not just electronics get recycled, i keep several bins for recyclable items, 2 different types of plastics, 2 different types of paper, cardboard, tin cans, aluminum, since i started recycling as much as possible the trash that goes to the curb went from a 30 gallon can full to about a 5 gallon bucket a week...
i wish more people recycled... - tibbon, on 12/28/2007, -0/+4Honestly I'm surprised that it's that high. I guess quite a few offices and larger corporations do the right thing and recycle, but often times it's just too damn hard or you simply forget about it. I'm still trying to figure out the 'right' way to get rid of a 19" CRT, since I live in Boston and have no car to take it to a waste center. Like hell am I going to carry a 50lb monitor a few miles in the snow to recycle it.
@lynxpro The efficiency (power wise) of using old machines for stuff like folding is horrid. The power waste is amazing. It's far better to use more modern machines. - Rikkochet, on 12/28/2007, -0/+4If you click those blue words above the description you can find out.
- etandrib, on 12/28/2007, -0/+3This is true. I had an old PC (tower, monitor, printer, cables, etc) and a laptop that I wanted to recycle and the nearest one was way out of my way and is not worth the time to recycle. I dumped it in the trash and was done with it. I recycle other stuff but when it costs more time and gas to recycle I'm not going to do it. Economic incentives - not laws are what we need.
- pintomp3, on 12/28/2007, -0/+3or your grandchildren will hate you.
- smergs, on 12/28/2007, -2/+5Yeah.. Not to mention being charged to recycle old computer stuff. I'm not paying to get rid of something. if that's the case I'll just throw it in the trash. I'm all about doing good things for the environment but I'm not paying someone to take my junk computer off of my hands.
- mr.gates, on 12/28/2007, -0/+3So only 0.5292% of electronics are recycled?
- Lanage, on 12/28/2007, -1/+4Recycle, or Al Gore will hate you.
- rizzo2008, on 12/28/2007, -0/+3They can be recycled as well
- r3z0nate, on 12/28/2007, -0/+3I'd love to recycle electronics, but the fact that it isn't free in most areas means no one will until it is. I can't justify spending $50 to ship a computer to get recycled
- majortom1981, on 12/28/2007, -0/+2yAround here there is noplace to recycle computer parts. The town recycling center doesnt accept it.
- a10webb, on 01/02/2008, -0/+2Like bentrinh said, most people would recycle if there weren't a green fee for recycling electronics. I had to pay $12 to recycle a busted CRT but I'd rather pay the $12 than poison people with whatever arsenic and lead is inside that tube. Others just think "out of sight, out of mind."
- pintomp3, on 12/28/2007, -1/+3good for everyone.
- thebellmaster1x, on 12/28/2007, -0/+2It's a double problem, too, since the non-recycled waste isn't disposed of properly. Most of the solder used still has lead in it.
- jd33, on 12/28/2007, -1/+3I made a treefort.
- socialpyramid, on 12/28/2007, -0/+2yeah, I think it's supposed to be 21%.
- thespudmall, on 12/29/2007, -0/+2Tell that the 100 free vibrator motors I rescued from cellphone recycling bins!
- Digg90210, on 12/28/2007, -0/+2Here's a better explanation: http://www.greencitizen.com/global_dumping.php
Excerpt: "Many recyclers just strip out the valuable components of electronics and sell the rest to brokers who, in turn, sell them to lower-tier scavengers. When irresponsible de-manufacturers cannot easily dump less lucrative remains in local landfills, they ship these highly toxic remnants to poorer developing nations, taking advantage of cheaper labor and a lack of environmental standards." - Rikkochet, on 12/28/2007, -0/+2You suggest using MORE electricity on waste electronics?
Those distributed screen saver apps waste ridiculous amounts of energy. Can you imagine what is being wasted on hundreds of thousands of home PCs running at 100% CPU for years? - Digg90210, on 12/28/2007, -0/+2Note that electronic recyclers differ in what they do with your waste:
- The good ones separate and recycle everything. (This is less profitable)
- The bad ones strip off the valuable stuff, and ship the rest overseas -- writing off the crap as a tax-deductable donation! (This is more profitable.) Too often it ends up in a river in China. - superkendall, on 12/28/2007, -0/+2Actually I would be astounded if it's really 21% of people recycling electronics. Lots of people have no idea you can even do that, still others would not want to pay the fees associated with it.
There are some good efforts underway for people to buy back obsolete electronics at low prices though... - my10cent, on 12/29/2007, -0/+1I used to work at a recycling plant, people would get pissed if they knew how little of their so called recycling is actually recycled and how much is just out with the rest of the trash, Recycling is a joke.
Actually the system was build in good spirit, it would just cost too much to actually DO IT! - LilRabbitFooFoo, on 08/11/2008, -0/+1The only thing that should be recycled are aluminum cans, as they cost more energy to make than to recycle. Everything else is just the opposite and is just a way for the companies that make money off of garbage (the state and the mob) to milk more tax dollars from us, while simultaneously doing more harm to the environment. Oh and the environmental movement, which has a vested interest in keeping all of us worried about this and donating cash to their cause.
Grow up and get a clue. We're NEVER running out of landfill (the 1970's EPA study has been proven to be *****) and there's NO reason to recycle anything except aluminum cans. - dood, on 12/29/2007, -0/+1All of baalzebub's neighbors, anyway.
- dood, on 12/29/2007, -0/+1It's also a mess trying to figure out which facility to take each separate item. Some will take CRTs, some will take computers, others home theater-type equipment, etc. Aggregators could probably make some serious money.
- dood, on 12/29/2007, -0/+1Easy to solve that, just don't have kids. The resources they would have consumed would dwarf any benefit that could be achieved by you recycling your electronics.
- mikehill33, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1so this would be classified as "e-Waste" ?
- INDOAZZ, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1I work for a State University and the amount of computer equipment, that still works, and get tossed for the NEW Technology is staggering. Our program sends all of our equipment to RECYCLE centers that either use the products for distribution to low income families or reuse the parts to build other computers. In one day we recycled over 1,600 computers. At least some people are helping! It is not a lost cause, especially for the bigger companies of the world, THEY NEED to do these programs.
- fanboydcs, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1to be honest 12% is a pretty high number, I can bet to say that aluminum cans or glass or even paper has a lower percentage.
- LilRabbitFooFoo, on 08/11/2008, -0/+1Yup. People recycle because they've been told it will help and so it makes them feel better to do it. It actually wastes resources and harms the environment more to recycle everything except aluminum cans. Nothing else needs to be recycled...ever. It's just another source of graft for the contractors who handle it (i.e. the state and/or the mob). Recycling is *****. Stop doing it.
- maxwillson, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1bad news for environment..
- grumpyrain, on 12/29/2007, -0/+1But hey, it is not as if you will be lucid enough to realise.
- th3B3n, on 12/31/2007, -0/+1There's also a 1.2% margin of error.
- Ajajadude, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1Yeah, I have a box of old computer parts sitting in a closet because there's really no place to just go and drop off my stuff, even for a fee. Most anything I can find in my area primarily deals with businesses. This all despite the laws in California about e-waste recycling.
- jon3k, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1You're better off recycling them and using the money to purchase more powerful and more energy efficient equipment to use to dedicate cycles to those projects.
- wetmetalthong, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1The thing is, it's very hard to recycle electronics. It's far better to reuse than to recycle. Especially with computer monitors, because when you recycle them, you release harmful chemicals into the air and streams. It's far better to reuse.
- etandrib, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1There is a reason I'm getting rid of the computer - I'm not going to run it in my home and have it take up space. Recycle or trash it. If someone wants it to run BOINC on they can come and get it.
- bincoder, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1In this area of arizona, we can toss paper, etc into the recycle bin but can also throw in old computer equipment. Throwing computer equipment into the usual trash container is illegal. Strange that old TV sets, stereos, etc. go by entirely different rules. These can be thrown into the trash, but not in the recycle bin. I smell someone making $$$ that wants it that way. There is no difference whatsoever between a old TV set and a computer monitor, enviromentally. Each has lots of solder and lots of phosphorus with some mercury in the crt. It would help if the government had a clue about simple, basic, 1st grade science.
- britoca, on 12/28/2007, -0/+1and then u wonder where all the toxins in the environment come from...
- boflaade, on 12/29/2007, -0/+1I live in a province where recycling has been the norm for over a decade. Now the government is putting a levy on recyclables when you buy them. It isn't the best idea, as people have the concept that they paid their dues and will toss them in the trash. Recycling bins are everywhere for cans and paper but electronics have to be brought to the depot.
- nkthen, on 02/26/2008, -0/+1That is a very sad number. Let's do our best to recycle!
http://www.recyclinggarbage.net - bentrinh, on 12/29/2007, -0/+1Maybe people would recycle e-waste if they didn't CHARGE you to recycle!
- boflaade, on 12/29/2007, -0/+1good for you. I was wondering what I would use the old TV for. It's yours!
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