A Recycled
Laptop’s Journey, President of PC Recycler comments
With our increasing use of digital electronics as
everyday products, the consciousness of its life cycle from
production to disposal is becoming an extremely important issue.
More importantly, where do those chemicals and materials used in
production go when it is time for disposal?
“Manufacturing a
desktop computer and a 17-inch CRT monitor uses at least 530
pounds of fossil fuels, 50 pounds of chemicals and 3,330 pounds
of water – roughly the weight of a sports utility vehicle,”
according to Computers and the Environment, a 2004 book
released by United Nations University (UNU).
About 87 percent
of the 3 million tons of electronic waste in the US are simply
thrown in the trash, leaving governments, aid agencies and
taxpaying consumers to pick up the costs. Estimates show that
about 70 percent of the 40 million tons of electronic waste
produced annually worldwide is sent off to China, India, and
Nigeria. The number of workers in these poor towns employed by
the e-waste industry reaches up to 150,000 people, each one of
them paying little attention to their exposure to serious health
risks.
Instead of
contributing to the global trade of electronic waste, PC
Recycler is an ethical, zero-landfill company that can do the
job right. With centers in Virginia and New York, PC Recycler is
one of the many recyclers whose business is increasing as
consumers become more environmentally conscious.
PC Recycler
utilizes their options to handle end-of-life and obsolete
electronics. Most computer equipment could likely be
reconditioned and sold secondhand or broken down for parts
rather than recycled. “You can’t process a laptop mechanically;
you have to manually remove a few components…they’re
manufactured different ways by different manufacturers…so that
forces us to have a higher standard worker and process to
recycle them,” Jeremy Farber, President of PC Recycler,
elaborated.
To read the articles in the “A Recycled
Laptop’s Journey”, go to:
Part 1: Exporting Toxic Waste AND
Part 2: Doing the Job Right
