Computers are a serious solid-waste problem. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, in 2005, discarded electronics totaled about 2 million tons. It’s estimated that only about 15 to 20 percent of this was recycled.
Computer equipment contains toxic materials:
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• Computer monitors with cathode ray tubes (CRTs) contain four to eight pounds of lead on average. The EPA has identified electronic products as the largest single source of lead in municipal solid waste.
• Printed circuit boards in computers, music players, and other electronic devices contain toxic metals such as chromium, nickel, and zinc.
• Batteries in the computer may contain nickel and cadium.
• Relays, switches, and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) may contain mercury.
• Plastics used in many computers also contain flame retardants that are toxic and persist in the environment. Studies suggest they accumulate in household dust and in the food chain, and they have been detected in some fish.
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If all the retired equipment currently stored in homes were discarded with the regular trash, municipal landfills and incinerators would have to absorb nearly one billion pounds of lead, two million pounds of cadium, and several hundred thousand pounds of mercury. For more information, visit the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition online.
Not all the computer equipment returned for recycling necessarily ends up at an appropriately managed facility. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, an environmental advocacy group, has found that the majority of equipment is diverted to uncontrolled landfills or to unsafe recycling operations in developing countries. As a result, the local environment in these areas can become contaminated, and local residents, in an effort to reclaim valuable metal components, may be exposed to hazardous materials.
A coalition of environmental groups has recently established a voluntary program known as the Electronics Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship. The recyclers agree not to export hazardous computer components to developing countries, not to dispose of equipment in municipal landfills or incinerators not equipped to handle it, and not to use prison labor, among other things. The program is new, but the number of companies that have signed on is growing. Click here to see a list of recyclers that signed the pledge.
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