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Recycling your computer and other e-waste products prevents the release of heavy metals and toxins into the environment through landfills or incinerators. It's a good option, particularly if your computer is no longer usable and cannot be donated or refurbished.

How to recycle your computer

If reuse isn't a viable option for your computer (by you or someone else), you may be able to return it to the manufacturer through a takeback program or have an electronics recycling firm or your municipal or private trash hauler pick it up on collection day from your house or at a drop-off facility.

• The National Safety Council provides a list of electronic recyclers throughout the country
• Consider trading in your recently purchased computer and other electronics equipment at Dealtree, where you can get cash or a gift certificate for several brands.
• Ebay's Rethink program has ideas for where to sell, donate, or recycle your old electronics.
• Search the Earth 911 Business Recycling Directory for other e-waste recycling options.

Manufacturer takeback programs

Controversy surrounding the potential hazards of electronic waste has prompted many manufacturers to adopt computer takeback programs, whereby they accept your old computer and recycle it using third party recyclers. The following provides a brief summary of the different available programs.

Free takeback programs:

• Apple - Will take back computers and monitors of any brand for free, and will even pay the costs of shipping when you purchase a new Apple monitor and computer.
• Dell - Will take back any Dell product anytime as well as any brand computer and monitor with the purchase of a new Dell through the Dell website. Shipping is included for both.
• Toshiba - Will accept any Toshiba notebook for free, including the cost of shipping.
• Sony - Will take back many brands of notebooks (shipping is paid by the consumer) in exchange for credit towards future Sony purchases.

Takeback with a fee:

• Gateway - Charges a fee, not including the costs of shipping, to take back any brand of computer. Some products may be eligible for trade-in credit towards future purchases.
• Hewlett-Packard - Takes back any brand of computer, monitor, notebook, printer and other devices for a fee, shipping included. The fee varies with the product. In addition, some products may be eligible for trade-in credit towards future purchases.
• Lenovo/IBM - Lenovo (which owns IBM's computer division, including Thinkpad) will take back any brand computer and monitor for a fee of $30, including shipping. In addition, IBM also buys back certain eligible computers, monitors, printers, and other equipment.

Recycling your computer helps you go green because…

• It reduces the amount of toxic substances that end up in landfills and enables the reuse of many resources, including heavy metals, thereby limiting the need to use virgin raw materials.

Computer recycling, either through a local electronics recycling facility or through a manufacturer takeback program (which then uses third-party recyclers), enables many of the metals and usable parts to be salvaged and thereby bypass the waste stream. Metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury account for 70 percent of a computer's residual value.[1]

Electronic waste is the fastest growing portion of the US waste stream, growing at rates around 8 percent per year.[2] As of 2005, 250 million computers in the US became obsolete, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).[3] About 55 million of these were landfilled, occupying enough volume to fill an acre 4,000 feet high.

The waste generated by obsolete computers and monitors include 1 billion pounds of lead, about 2 million pounds of cadmium, 1.2 million pounds of chromium, more than 4 billion pounds of plastic, and almost 400,000 pounds of mercury. When computers end up in landfills or incinerators, these toxic substances often enter air and water supplies and cause harm to human and ecosystem health. The toxic qualities of lead have been well documented and it is already banned from many uses. The toxicity of mercury is well known as well, and it is potent in acute quantities. But it can also cause environmental harm in small doses. Just 1/70th of a teaspoon of mercury can pollute and contaminate a 20 acre lake, rendering its fish unsuitable for consumption.[4]

Controversies

Disassembly of computers is manually intensive and expensive. For this reason, about 50-80 percent of all recycled electronics waste is shipped overseas to poorer countries, such as China, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Some of this e-waste is then burned or thrown into rivers or old irrigation ditches, causing serious environmental problems in those countries. Additionally, some electronics waste operations take place in prisons, where prisoners are not governed to worker protection laws and are paid below minimum wage.[2] The Basel Action Network provides a list of recyclers that meet the highest standards of environmental sustainability and socially ethical recycling practices.

Related health issues

The toxic chemicals in computers are linked to many health problems. Lead and mercury, both heavy metals, can cause permanent brain damage, reproductive and developmental harm, and potentially cancer. Cadmium, also a metal, is known to cause cancer. Brominated flame retardants have been shown to cause brain damage and possible cancer.

When computers are improperly discarded, these substances can enter groundwater supplies through landfills or the air if they are incinerated, causing possible risks to human health. People who recycle computers are at the greatest risk for toxic exposure to the heavy metals lead, chromium, cadmium and mercury.

External links

• PBS e-cycling resource
• US Environmental Protection Agency report on electronic waste recyling and donation
• US Environmental Protection Agency electronics recycling website