What is Digg?52 Comments
- awtripp, on 11/19/2007, -1/+31it's not that recycling computers is a bad thing, it is HOW they are recycled. bunch of ***** useless sensationalist wanna be journalists on digg.
- plizard, on 11/19/2007, -0/+30Sounds like a company policy that needs revising on the recycle companies behalf, not a guilt trip to people trying to help out.
- cactus476, on 11/19/2007, -2/+15It can be sad really, you have to do your homework to know what the recycler is really doing with your computer.
One non-profit I work with in the Greater Cincinnati, Ohio area is the Full Circle Group. http://www.FullCircleGroup.org
When they accept your donation, you can take it off your taxes BTW, they DoD wipe your hard drive, refurbish what they can and send the computers back into the community for those less fortunate. For the components they can't refurbish, they demanufacture and send them to trusted recyclers. They tag all of their exports to ensure that nothing gets left in a dump. - strictnein, on 11/19/2007, -2/+13Most important sentence:
"While there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas"
*cough* - jerbaker, on 11/19/2007, -0/+11"chances are they're contributing to a global trade in electronic trash that endangers workers and pollutes the environment overseas"
Why is it so hard for people to reason something out? If you don't recycle them, then you'll be polluting wherever the waste ends up. It isn't like recycling "liberates" all this toxic material that wasn't there before. Additionally, it's not that there's something inherently bad about recycling electronic waste. What IS bad is the way it is currently being done -- exporting it to countries with no environmental laws or health and safety regulations for workers. That has nothing to do with environmentalism and everything to do with global free trade.
I don't know whether the submitter is one, but the summary sounds like it was motivated by a desire to be anti-recycling just because it's something dirty hippies do. It doesn't stand up to reason ... a hallmark of a neocon position on any issue. - inactive, on 11/19/2007, -0/+7Most important part of that sentence:
"While there are no precise figures," - PintSki, on 11/19/2007, -0/+6Burried,
Recycling old computers etc. IS a good thing, bad thing about it is the lowlife companies that ship this stuff to china , india , you name it, to do it there,instead of locally,following the correct procedure, safety norms and so on - smackhero, on 11/19/2007, -0/+5yea, the submitter is an idiot. of course recycling is a good thing. it's not recycling that generates electronic trash. old electronics are either going directly into a landfill or recycled. if it's recycled properly, it improves the sustainability of our society. we just need to improve the regulation of recycling companies and make sure that the recycling is done properly and meets safety standards both domestically and overseas.
- hornfinger, on 11/19/2007, -0/+4freecycle it!
- BSDaemon, on 11/19/2007, -0/+3What a load of crap. Yes, there may be a few places not doing it right. But the recycling of computers is definitely a good thing...
Yet another stupid, misleading digg title.
By the way, check out www.geepinc.com - they do all kinds of recycling of electronics. And very efficiently, too. - DreKor, on 11/19/2007, -0/+3Didn't Dell get nailed for doing this a few months ago?
- br0ck, on 11/19/2007, -0/+3A UN group called StEP - "Solving the E-waste Problem" is working to solve this problem by creating more efficient assembly lines to process all of the electronics waste efficiently and with proper consideration for toxic byproducts. Currently a large portion of recycling in the country is done manually using open fires in villages and yields only 20% recovery and toxic waste ends up in the land or river. The StEP methods would result in 90% recovery and no toxic waste release to the environment. They are currently partnering with Phillips and a German precious metals company. http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2 ...
- 90proofavenger, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2Much of my electronic recycling has been done in the same fashion. Old computers, monitors, and TVs have gone to local public schools.
- NoobieDoobieDo, on 11/19/2007, -1/+3FTA
***While there are no precise figures, activists estimate*** that 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas. - londubh, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2Uh yes I do. Recycling computers is a good thing when done right. Sadly as this article has pointed out there are those who are not doing it right. Same thing goes for biofuels. Ethanol from corn as is isn't good for the environment nor is biodiesel from soy.
- cactus476, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2The one problem with that is local schools are not designed to handle those types of donations and most of the time, the equipment ends up either being thrown away or sat in a back office, never to used again.
- reeftool, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2I do the same thing Yuutomo, fix old puters and give them away. I used to bring the old ones home from work my last job and fix them and give them away also. Stuff that wasn't good I have always tossed in the scrap metal bin at work (i'm a mechanic). I don't know if that is enviromentaly friendly but they can't be any more toxic than a crushed car and they have much of the same electronics.
- PawFox, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2Am I such a geek that I want to take those parts home?
- vade79, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2I don't think I've ever thrown out a computer, other than faulty parts. Hell my router is a p100 i had when i was a kid and my closet is a giant dump of computer parts and boxes. I'm my own recycling center.
- billith88, on 11/19/2007, -1/+3What about apple's recycling program . . . how responsible are their methods?
- Jonjonr6, on 11/19/2007, -0/+2Additionally, it costs typically more for a school to try an rebuild old "broken" donated computers than it does to buy new that comes with support, and works out of the box.
- rocktopotomus, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1All human rights aside, the IDEA of people scuttling about huge mountains of discarded electronics vicera, in some sort of Mad Max-ian techno-scavenging rampage mildly delights my sense of humor.
- BobsYourUncle, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1Only helps if you're in the area, but I take my stuff here: http://www.computerrecyclersottawa.com/index.html
It costs you, but I thought it was worth it. - MunkeeBoy, on 11/19/2007, -2/+3Found this in my travels for more info:
http://www.greenercomputing.com/ewaste.cfm - figz, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/11/06/the-c ...
- haroldk, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1Bravo. Good point.
- YZBot, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1Here's the problem from someone who is in the e-waste business. Aside from certain components, there is not a lot of scrap value in computer equipment. Particularly in a CRT. The value of the product isn't enough to offset the cost of equipment and labor to break it down. Recyclers must charge clients, usually cents per pound, to recycle the product. This is fine for most business, but for a consumer this could mean $10 to recycle their old monitor. That's a kick in the balls for them. They would rather toss it in a landfill or find someplace cheaper. These cheap or free recyclers will then sell their products to brokers who in turn find ways to get it to Hong Kong. They do almost no breaking down of the products in the US because they can't make profit due to labor costs. They stack it, wrap it, and put it in a shipping container. That's it.
There should be a program that charges a recycling fee up front for electronic that goes into a pool. When the product is at the end of its life, a recycler can then get reimbursed by weight for recycling expenses, as long as the product is recycled according to whatever regulations there needs to be. - ladyarcher85, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1Good intention and vision but it needs better implementation
- MacGyver2210, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1I think "StEWP" is a better acronym.
- YZBot, on 11/20/2007, -0/+1fee, tax, whatever. But when it costs more money to recycle than there is in product value, that product is going to be sent to the cheapest recyclers. The cheapest ones are in China. Consumers who don't want to pay to dispose of their electronics throw them into the landfill. Some refuse companies will screen the waste for stuff like this but that gets charged back to the consumer through their monthly bills. It costs money period, so where are you going to get it from?
- 90proofavenger, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1I agree and understand your point. I should have probably added that my 'local' schools are in semi-rural Kansas. The items I've donated (which were just old, not broken) have been implemented in classrooms and are currently in use.
- JohnnyXmas, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1R3 Systems Group is another trustable refurbisher recycler in the Chicago area.
http://www.r3systemsgroup.com - jerbaker, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1So, it is your position that "hysterical leftists" are opposed to recycling? I'll bet my next paycheck I already know who you voted for ... twice.
- xdevit, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1Yes some of your recycled PC stuff doesn't end up farting green.. Some gets recycled the right way and some parts that actually work gets parted out to stock piles tobe used for third world countries. Think of that 10 year old pc that works... but its no match to your quadcore UGM. You trash it but someone can actually still use it.
Hate to break it to you but there is alot of stuff that isn't actually recyled. - zareason, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1And, of course, don't forget Alameda County Computer Resource Center in the San Francisco Bay area: http://www.accrc.org/
- strictnein, on 11/19/2007, -0/+1That was my point. That, and the "activists estimate" bit. I guess it was sort of poorly worded on my part though.
Basically the number is pulled out of thin air and at best totally inaccurate. - stevex0r, on 11/19/2007, -0/+0This is what organizations like Free Geek are for. Go check out the mother ship in Portland or look up a free geek in your area. Better yet if there isn't one in your area start one. They will reuse what they can and recycle everything else.
http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Free_Geek_Start ... - TheDreadDiggerD, on 11/19/2007, -1/+1Mass suicide won't help. People who know there's a problem will be the ones committing to it. Mass murder, now there's a policy with some real potential!
- MacGyver2210, on 11/19/2007, -1/+1I'll take em. I can start a nice little 'linux learning center' or a small server farm in my bedroom using a couple-dozen older computers - ala 486, Moto 68k etc.
- yuutomo, on 11/19/2007, -1/+1I recycle the machines locally, donating to the elderly, low income families and non-religious organizations. I tell them when they want to get rid of it, to call me. I then recycle it again. I know of a couple of places that cleanly disassemble systems, monitors, printers and nothing leaves the US. robisbell@flyingtigercomputers.com
- MacGyver2210, on 11/19/2007, -1/+1I think it's been trying. You know, Natural Selection? I think if we get rid of all these laws protecting stupid people from killing or maiming themselves, the earth will do a pretty good job of weeding out those who belong.
I'm for mass suicide in '08. - deanrussell2001, on 11/19/2007, -0/+0mirror?
- haroldk, on 11/19/2007, -1/+1I like the submitter's comment, with one correction:
Remove the word, 'neocon'
In its place substitute the phrase, 'hysterical leftist' - Jonjonr6, on 11/19/2007, -0/+0To make things worse, when Compaq updated computers for its workforce, they would not allow the meployees to take home any of the old computers that still worked fine. There's no telling how many good computers were recycled. They probably did not donate them to anyone because of responsibility/liability issues that might surround a donation. Basically, it would have cost them money to recoupe and rebuild broken computers to get them into a working condition enough to donate to anyone. I worked there, and admittedly, mis-appropriated as much as I could, since most were still perfectly good PCs.
Its sad that money rules everything. - haroldk, on 11/19/2007, -1/+1This is the mantra of the recycling industry lobbyists.
Translation: The recycling industry wants tax money.
Wait a minute, who said anything about a tax?
...program that charges a recycling fee up front for electronic that goes into a pool....
What do you suppose this will become legislation under President Clintoon/O'bama/Edweards
That smells like a tax. Cha-ching! - Carburetor, on 11/19/2007, -2/+2We can't help earth before it helps itself!
Oh.wait a minute.. - daoism, on 11/19/2007, -1/+1"Many activists believe the answer lies in requiring electronics makers to take back and recycle their own products.It's the cradle to cradle concept of production that all companies should adopt." --I personally would not mind paying an extra sales tax knowing the company will take back my product and recycle it when I'm done. Or just be smarter at making sustainable products. It can be done, there's just not enough public outcry...yet.....there's hope.
Cradle to cradle concept: http://www.mcdonough.com/cradle_to_cradle.htm - MunkeeBoy, on 11/19/2007, -4/+3I only found out about this recently when I met a lady who works for this company:
http://www.ecyclerecovery.com.au/
Sad thing is though you have to pay to have it done as it is an expensive process to dismantle the components. I'd be interested to know if there are any others out there? - spiritditch, on 11/19/2007, -3/+0It sounds like your attitude could use a little recycling! :)
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