Recycle!

When asked the question “What do you do with your old computer when you buy a new one?” many responded, “Give it to a relative who needs one.” The hand-me-down hardware pipeline is full of computers. Near the bottom of the chain, the hardware rests in a closet. Closets now overflow. The final destination is the town landfill. Currently in Connecticut, local landfills continue to accept computer components (chassis, monitors, keyboards, mice, and printers) but heavy metals found inside them (lead, cadmium, mercury, nickel, and others) pose a contamination risk to ground water and aquifers. No one knows this better than Paul Avery, Assistant Director of the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority (HRRA).

On Saturday, September 23, at the fourth annual America Recycles Day, 23 tons of computers, monitors, TVs, VCRs, and stereos were collected during the one-day event at the Plumtrees Road facility in Danbury. Last year, the haul was larger, 27 tons. With collection and safe disposal, a portion of the toxic by-product of the high-technology revolution was prevented from poisoning future generations. Sadly, annual recycle days make a small dent in a major problem. The toxic technology waste problem will only get worse and local governments have been slow to react to a looming crisis. Right now, about half of the US population owns a computer. “The pace of upgrading computer hardware, in good measure fueled by the Internet, accelerates,” says Mr Avery. He points out as users buy more powerful computers (286, 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium II) the useful life of new purchases grows shorter. Several years ago, a 286 loaded with software and a printer made a worthwhile gift for someone needing word processing or spreadsheets. Today, unless a system can access the Internet, even disadvantaged kids who do not own a computer will not touch it. “In all honesty, any working system less than a Pentium class computer,” says Avery, “will not find a home.” From a recent study by the National Safety Council, 31.6 million personal computers will become obsolete in the US in 2000. By 2005, it balloons to 63.4 million.

How Toxic?

On a slow news day, we hear horror stories of inner city kids eating lead paint flakes from peeling old walls. Lead poisoning leads to brain damage and central nervous system disorders. The federal government banned lead based paint production many years ago. “A computer monitor contains 20 percent [or more] lead,” says Mr Avery. “When disposed as landfill, the tube often breaks, allowing four to eight pounds of lead to be released. Heavy metals can find their way to the water we drink.” Because the cost of proper disposal of computers, televisions, and other electronic components is high, most towns do not separate these items from normal refuse. He observes legislators are loath to pass laws forcing local mayors and selectmen to raise taxes in order to attack this problem. While it is illegal to landfill lead car batteries, the $5.00 deposit paid at the time of purchase greatly ensures the lead and battery acid do not become part of the landfill. This is not the case for electronic components. Hardware companies (monitor suppliers in particular) have not stepped up to the challenge.

Hats Off To Dell

Avery points out that Dell Computer has taken some steps toward reducing the impact of the problem. Dell encourages refurbishing computers by offering training programs for high schools and local community groups to upgrade rather than dispose. Extending a computer’s life delays the hardware’s inevitable death.

Massachusetts, Avery notes, has a law that reduces the volume of monitors, computers, and televisions by having Goodwill Industries and the Salvation Army receive computers and televisions. With collection/distribution in place, they separate the salvageable from the worthless. They sell (or give away) working units. Broken units must be sent to areas approved for hazardous disposal. They stay out of the landfill. Perhaps something similar could be put in place in Connecticut.

Small Steps

Avery states small changes can help alleviate, at least in part, an acute situation. For example, if Newtown (or other towns in the area) set up a small test area near the landfill drop off point with a power cord, a simple test would determine if a monitor was dead or alive. Live monitors could be set aside for possible reuse. Frankly, when some people experience a computer failure (lightning strike destroying a component on a motherboard, for example), they throw out the entire system, including a working monitor. Conversely, when a monitor fails, a working computer may be discarded when the system arrives at the landfill. Frankly, we need to ask town officials to undertake a few low cost steps to address a growing problem. Many people who use the Internet have upgraded to more powerful computers at least once. If you have an old computer in a closet, potentially you are part of the problem. Try to become part of the solution.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

http://www.hrra.org

(Note: This is the 226th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the Internet. Next, “CueCat” is the subject on tap. Stay Tuned. Until next week, happy travels through cyberspace. Previous issues of Internet Info for Real People can be found: http://www.thebee.com. Please e-mail comments and suggestions: rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)