Your Guide To Green

High Tech Trash
By Maura Yates & Kathleen Davidson

The technology boom has changed our way of life forever. As with most things this creates positives and negatives...

In less than three decades it has resulted in Americans owning over two billion pieces of high tech electronics according to industry experts. In most cases electronics have improved our lives significantly. However as new technology continues to explode, Americans also are discarding millions of tons of waste each year according to the same industry estimates. The downside of this is the leaching of toxic chemicals (mercury, lead, cadmium) from our discarded computers, cell phones, I-pods, etc.

Consider that over 100 million televisions, computers, monitors and cell phones become obsolete each year because of new technology. According to the EPA, electronics make a major contribution to the domestic generation of 1.4 to 1.9 million tons of e-waste per year and to the 50 million tons of e-waste annually produced worldwide. Surprisingly even the most environmentally conscious consumers often don't realize that e-waste can cause lasting damage.

Experts say that 97 percent of the materials discarded have recycled value and, if recycled, could alleviate a great deal of the 48 million tons of waste currently disposed of in landfills. Currently, less than 20 percent of the e-waste generated goes through recycling companies. This is expected to improve as states like California implement new regulations for landfill dumping.

In light of the fact that electronic waste is “the world's fastest growing and potentially most dangerous waste problem,” according to the Wall Street Journal , it's time to answer the question, “What do we do with this stuff? First, contact the electronics' manufacturer to see if they have a “take back” program. Then check with local non-profit organizations to determine if they accept electronic donations. If these options do not pan out be aware of the problems associated with sending e-waste both to landfills or recycling centers in order to dispose.

First, consider that when valuable resources and highly effective electric conductors such as gold, silver, copper and aluminum, are put in a landfill they are lost forever. T he USGS estimates “that 1 metric ton of computer scrap contains more gold than 17 tons of ore and much lower levels of harmful elements common to ores, such as arsenic, mercury, and sulfur.” Additionally, toxic substances found in the electronics ultimately can leach into the soil and ground water, so the likely solution seems to be recycling. Consequently it can be more environmentally friendly to mine gold from old computers than conventional methods that often extract the metal via surface mining in endangered ecosystems like the rainforests.

So recycling seems to be the obvious answer, but you have to research your options because several problems have resulted with recycling used electronics.

For example, in Ghana, a ship pulls up to the port filled with recycled electronics from the developed world. Many companies and municipalities that claim to recycle their e-waste are scrapping and selling it to brokers who then ship it off to developing countries where labor is inexpensive – Out of sight, out of mind. Often, in countries like Ghana, young children are required to tend to the toxic fires in the scrap yard where copper wire is burnt to expose the copper and where motherboards are dunked in harmful acid to expose the gold. China once was the largest electronic scrap yard. Today the health hazards associated with this scrap are coming to light. China has some of the highest dioxin (a probable carcinogen) contaminant levels in the world and flame-retardants called PDBE's, that are damaging to fetuses, have been found in workers' blood.

While some recycling facilities are less than responsible, other recyclers process the e-waste in a more eco-friendly way keeping in mind pollution and health risks: often, their primary goal is to repurpose the computer then reuse and recycle pieces.

For now, a lot of recycling facilities (responsible or otherwise) charge a processing fee to discard e-waste because the cost of re cycling is greater than the refurbished re-sell. Currently there is no government incentive program in place: people are not compensated for environmentally preferable management of used electronics and there is no financing system to assist in lessening the economic barriers that keep people from recycling and reusing.

While industrial and non-household hazardous waste is regulated for proper disposal, under the existing Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), households and individuals are not regulated and may dispose of hazardous waste (including electronics) in their standard solid waste in landfills.

Since you can't rely on all municipalities and electronic recyclers, ask your city or recycler how they process e-waste and verify that they are not shipping overseas. Also ask if they have a program to refurbish the electronics.

Elizabeth Grossman, author of High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health , emphasizes that e-waste from the manufacturing and disposal of electronics is spreading toxic chemicals into our communities, food and bodies. But the good news is Grossman provides a recycling guide for consumers as well as a review of what companies and politicians are doing (and not doing) to solve the problem.

Remember that one man's trash is another man's treasure! Reduce, repurpose or responsibly recycle.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council provides the following information regarding e-waste disposal.

Electronics Take Back Coalition

current state e-waste legislation

E-Waste Recycling Organizations

Wireless...The New Recyclable (for used cell phones)

Basel Action Network

National Recycling Coalition

E-Cycling Central

Manufacturer Take-Back Programs
This list does not include every manufacturer that accepts used products. Check out your manufacturer's website to find out its recycling policy -- terms and conditions for take-back can vary widely between companies.

Apple (also provides free other-brand cell phone and battery recycling at retail stores)

Dell

Hewlett-Packard

Sony

Gateway

Nokia

Motorola

Retailers
This list does not include every retailer that accepts used products. Check out your retailer's website to find out its recycling policy -- programs can vary widely between retailers.

Staples

Office Depot

Best Buy

Maura Yates lives in Boulder, Colorado and has been working in the sustainability field for the past five years. She has been a selected presenter at the American Association for Sustainability in Higher Education Conference on the importance of sustainable development to protect ecological integrity.  She also developed a working relationship with Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture to address development concerns along the Hudson River. Maura co-founded a green home renovations and handy-work company in Boulder and is working with a local conservation non-profit as their community organizer.

Kathleen Davidson holds a B.S. Degree in Communications and has served in communication management positions for Fortune 100 companies and as well as a national human resource association, WorldatWork. A 37-year resident of Phoenix, Arizona, Kathleen now owns her own business, Writing4U, and has clients across the country. More recently she has focused her writing and editing efforts in the sustainability arena.