E-Waste Recycling and Green Technology
Created on: Jun 18, 2009 10:06 AM by Patrick Avery - Last Modified: Oct 6, 2009 9:56 AM by Patrick Avery
Given the international focus on green technology and environmentally friendly initiatives, it's no surprise that the technology community has turned its attention in that direction. This page gives Knowledge Network users a one-stop location for the latest content and information on e-waste recycling and green technology.
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"From our perspective, the best thing that can happen is that we get new federal legislation that restricts exports of e-waste out of this country."
- Kate Sinding, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Docs and Tools
Guide to Greener Electronics V.12
This 12th edition of Greenpeace's "Guide to Greener Electronics" ranking reveals that the world's biggest PC makers – Hewlett Packard (HP), Dell and Lenovo have failed to improve their low scores. All three maintain a penalty point for backtracking on their commitments to eliminate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their products by the end of 2009.
Click here to download this document.
Waste Reduction Tips for the Office
In 1994, United States residents generated more than 209 million tons of municipal solid waste. If current trends continue, by 2010, we will have an additional 70 million tons to manage each year. Approximately one-third of our waste is generated by businesses, such as offices, restaurants, and retail stores. The amount of office waste can be lowered through "source reduction," that is, by using less and thereby reducing the amount of material thrown out every day. The following reduction tips, provided by INFORM, are designed to reduce the amount of office waste that otherwise would have to be recycled, burned, or placed in a landfill.
Click here to download this document.
Community Waste Prevention Toolkit – Computers
Personal computers are a growing waste management problem. In 1998 alone, more than 20 million PCs became obsolete in the US, and fewer than 11 percent of them were recycled. The rest - almost 18 million computers - were landfilled, incinerated, or stored away in closets or warehouses. This fact sheet provides strategies that government agencies, businesses, individuals, and institutions such as schools and hospitals can use to minimize the volume and toxicity of their electronics waste.
Click here to download this document.
News, Articles and Interviews
In the Business of E-Waste Recycling
How do you convince companies to take advantage of e-waste recycling opportunities when they might lose money in the process? Kate Sinding, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council says, "The best thing that can happen is that we get new federal legislation that restricts exports of e-waste out of this country." However, such a restriction is not yet in place and the current economy may be a stumbling block.
"Commercial customers can expect to pay from about $2.50 for smaller pieces such as phones and printers up to $15 for larger CRT monitors (which have a more complicated demanufacturing process), which includes local pickup, certificate of recycling and hard drive destruction serialization."
- Robert Houghton, president of Ohio-based technology change-management company, Redemtech.
Click here to read this article.
Doing 'The Right Thing' with E-Waste
IT Business Edge editor Lora Bentley spoke with Kate Sinding, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, who says the biggest sticking point in reaching an e-waste recycling standard is what to do about e-waste exportation. Even though many companies want to do the right thing, there's "leakage" in the system. Sinding says exports of e-waste to developing countries need to stop.
"Clearly, good corporate governance would say that you don't want to be in the business of doing something where, on a '60 Minutes' piece all of a sudden, a whole bunch of your stuff shows up in a toxic dump in China."
- Kate Sinding, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Click here to read the interview.
Economy May Take Priority over E-Waste Recycling Initiatives in Congress
Matt Decareau, business development director at Massachusetts-based M&K Recovery Group, thinks the Obama administration has a perfect opportunity to push strict e-waste recycling laws at the federal level. He realizes, however, that the country's economic troubles may prevent e-waste recycling from becoming a priority.
"As a business, choosing e-cycling to properly dispose of electronic waste is a crucial decision. From a public perspective, it’s important to employ eco-friendly practices, but businesses can also incur fines from the EPA if materials (such as CRTs) are not disposed of properly."
- Matt Decareau, business development director at Massachusetts-based M&K Recovery Group.
Click here to read this interview.
Other Web Resources
bird
says:
the west is lag behind japan in recycling e waste at least 10 years japan know so much valuable in the e waste material
Budget & Finance Toolkit for IT - 2010 Edition
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RICOM’s Computer Buyback and Recycling Program attempt to reduce the amount of electronics in landfills by refurbishing for further use or by safely recycling it. RICOM’s recycling and buyback programs offers customers in the United States a simple way to receive cash for their unwanted technology equipment or, if there is no value, recycle it.
We offer effective solutions that make it easy for customers to go green. Our Computer Buyback and Recycling Program is an example of RICOM’s commitment to reducing environmental impact by providing a convenient way for customers to responsibly recycle data center equipment. Environmentally, RICOM is committed to offering products and services that are environmentally practical throughout their life cycles.
Remanufacture and reuse is only one component of the environmental lifecycle. A complete approach to the environment considers all aspects of a product's lifecycle and footprint of a product. Systems that can be upgraded using refurbished components extend the end date of their use. RICOM offers refurbished components in new products and packaging as an alternative of cost savings.
Hardware asset recovery has value with used equipment Trade-in/trade-up, donation and off lease programs. With 20 years experience in IT sales, refurbishing and recycling operations, green is good business. Our vast portfolio of blade, virtualized configurations as well as energy star certified products cuts power costs, and consolidates data center real estate. Recycling computers rather than depositing them in landfills or shipping them off for other nations has risk of sensitive data. RICOM’s partnered with company’s assisting in such disk data sanitation services.
RICOM extends environmental technology solutions saving customers money. Electronic products make up the fastest growing segment of our landfill waste. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2007, more than 63 million computers in the United States were traded in for replacements, or simply thrown out. Discarded computers don't just take up space in a landfill. Careless computer disposal spread toxic wastes of more than 100 chemicals leaching in the soil. Be responsible, reuse certified refurbished equipment, and recycle your aging data center equipment that is cost effective both business and the environmentally.
Green Asset Recovery Solutions, contact RICOM http://www.shopricom.com/