Electronic Waste is EVERYONE'S Responsibility

 
Electronic waste has become a huge problem. When computers, stereos, VCRs, iPods, walkmans, video games, software, and cell phones are put into land fills, they leak poisons and heavy metals into the ground, endangering our lives and the health of our planet. With 48.5 million computers discarded each year, the USA is a particularly poor recycler and global citizen, exporting its hazardous electronic waste to developing countries, often illegally, and with horrific impacts on human health and the environment in these countries. According to UNESCO, in 2008, almost 180 million computers were replaced by new machines, and an estimated 35 million computers, all containing toxic substances, were dumped rather than recycled or disposed of properly.

PLEASE do not throw away your computer, networking, audio or video technology (including cell phones) or software into the trash (and don't allow your nonprofit to do it either!). Instead, look for computer/technology recycling centers in your area, or sell your equipment. There are many mission-based/civil society organizations that accept ewaste, either to refurbish it and provide it to schools, other civil society organizations and low-income communities, or to extract what is still usable and to properly dispose of the rest. And there is a growing number of for-profit companies who will process ewaste in an ecologically-sound manner.

To find such organizations in your area, you will have to do some detective work on your own:

• contact your local and/or state government, to find out if they have a list of organizations in your area, or official government programs related to ewaste

• call the product's manufacturer and see if they have a recycling program for their own products (the company web site may have this information as well)

• call the nearest domestic violence shelter, and see if they accept donations of used cell phones (many do)

• contact the nearest Goodwill; not all of the local offices accept electronic drop-offs, but a growing number do. If your local Goodwill has a charge for accepting the donation, please pay it -- it's money much needed and well-spent.

Remember to clean off all of the information from your electronics BEFORE you donate/sell!. Even if you go through and delete all of your information, some files can still be recovered. To be absolutely safe, reformat your hard drive.

These recycling resources and campaigns can also help:

• The Entrepreneur's Guide to Computer Recycling
  UNESCO has launched this free practical guide to computer recycling for entrepreneurs and project sponsors. The Entrepreneur's Guide to Computer Recycling is published in English, and will soon also be available in French. The purpose of the guide is to help develop the skills required to handle the growing flux of waste generated by the market for new and used computers so as to protect the environment and public health. The project also aims to support the emergence of new business opportunities. It should prove useful for NGOs and local development stakeholders in fostering small and micro entrepreneurships. In addition, the open license of the guidebook will allow interested parties to create versions adapted to local conditions and particular contexts. In addition, Internet support will be available with a forum through which entrepreneurs can discuss their experiences.

  Share the Technology
  Although the nonprofit has been discontinued, the web site continues to provide an online computer donation database that helps connect computer donors with schools and nonprofit organizations seeking donations in the USA, Puerto Rico, Canada and England.

  The Computer TakeBack Campaign
  The goal of the campaign is to protect the health and well being of electronics users, workers, and the communities where electronics are produced and discarded by requiring consumer electronics manufacturers and brand owners to take full responsibility for the life cycle of their products, through effective public policy requirements or enforceable agreements. The site provides a searchable database of electronics recyclers who have signed its pledge for responsible recycling.

  National Recycling Coalition - Electronics Recycling Initiative
  Promotes the recovery, reuse and recycling of obsolete electronic equipment, and encourages the design, manufacture and purchase of environmentally responsible electronic equipment. NRC maintains a recycling database for electronics (e.g. computers), free electronics recycling training, tips on how to properly manage old electronic equipment, a list of electronics recycling and reuse options for consumers and small businesses, and a list of state electronics recycling policies and programs.

  The Computer Recycling Center
  a California-based nonprofit organization that recycles unusable technology to keep it out of landfills. The Center takes all computers, technology, network, telephone, test equipment and cell phones, working and non-working, and overstocks of electronic parts. The Center will pay shipping costs to send in laptops and laptop parts to its nonprofit program. Most other technology must be dropped off at one of its Northern California Centers, although some pick up services are available.

  Wireless Recycling
  Before you return or recycle any phone or wireless tech tool, take the time to visit this site. In addition to helping you with recycling options, it will help you how to truly clean out all the memory (do not EVER trust any recycler, even the manufacturer, to do this for you).

   
  Considering starting a local education effort about the proper recycling or disposal of ewaste, with local government officials and your city's largest employers. Some local civic groups (Girl Scouts, Lion's Club) as well as the local high school(s) might love to be involved in such, as its simple to undertake and an "easy sell." If nothing exists yet, consider creating a web site targeted at your local community to help people dispose of their ewaste, and when you have even a small number of resources, contact your local newspaper about writing an article about the initiative.

  Also, consider approaching management at your employer about instituting an environmentally-friendly computer recycling program for its office equipment, particularly ewaste.

  See TechSoup for more information about recycling used computers and other hardware.

   

  If you liked the content of this web page, subscribe to my blog so you can know when this page, and other pages on my site, are updated. Don't have an RSS reader to subscribe to blogs? Not sure what RSS is? Try this RSS tutorial.

  ---

  Disclaimer: No guarantee of accuracy or suitability is made by the poster/distributor. This material is provided as is, with no expressed or implied warranty.

  Permission is granted to copy, present and/or distribute a limited amount of material from this web site without charge to recipients if the information is kept intact and without alteration, and is credited to:

  

my consulting services | about Jayne Cravens | return to home page |
contact me | linking to or from these pages