Junked
computers require recyclers to upgrade
Copyright © Nando Media 2000
By BILL BERGSTROM, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (May 7, 2000 4:53 p.m.
EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - With faster
processors and sharper flat-panel screens arriving
regularly in homes and offices, a new breed of
recyclers is setting up shop to handle the glut of
outdated computers and monitors and the toxic
materials they contain.
"We started collecting
electronic equipment in September. We now get what
works out to a couple of semi-loads a month,"
said Neil Peters-Michaud, chief executive officer of
Cascade Asset Management LLC in Madison, Wis.
"Once the floodgates open, the demand is
incredible."
Personal computers are loaded with
toxic materials as dangerous to dispose of as the
messy pile of paint cans and solvents in the corner of
the garage.
Individual and business users have
tended to put off getting rid of their old computer
systems, not so much for environmental reasons but
because they hoped there would be a use or a market
for them.
But with more than 315 million
computers expected to become obsolete by the year
2004, storage space is running out. Many companies and
homeowners are starting to take out the electronic
trash, and that concerns environmentalists.
"It is a growing problem right
now," said Jeremiah Baumann, environmental
advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group
in Washington. "Computers are filled with all
sorts of toxic chemicals - everything from a huge
amount of lead in the monitors to mercury and cadmium
in other parts of the computers themselves."
The
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a nonprofit group
formed after the discovery of groundwater
contamination in Silicon Valley, estimates that among
other hazardous wastes, 315 million computers would
contain 1.2 billion pounds of lead, 2 million pounds
of cadmium, 400,000 pounds of mercury and 1.2 million
pounds of hexavalent chromium.
That is creating a boom for
recycling businesses like Envirocycle
of Hallstead in northern Pennsylvania that focus on
electronics from businesses and manufacturers. Billing
itself as a one-stop recycler of products from
mainframe computers to electric razors, the
10-year-old company is adding thousands of square feet
of plant space and hangar-like storage buildings to
keep up with demand.
"We have had over 50 percent
growth every year and we are now taking in 20 to 30
tractor-trailer loads a week," Envirocycle Vice
President Greg Voorhees.
Still, a survey by the National
Safety Council's Environmental Health Center
indicated recycling firms handled 275 million pounds
of castoff computer gear in 1998, accounting for just
11 percent of an estimated 20 million central
processing units that became obsolete that year.
By another measure, the study said
electronics recycling firms handled only about 6
percent as many computers as manufacturers shipped in
1998. That compared to a 70 percent rate for other
major appliances such as washing machines, air
conditioners and refrigerators.
Officials are beginning to react. The
Environmental Protection Agency conducts an
Electronic Product Recovery and Recycling Roundtable
through which business, government and other officials
can trade ideas on how to handle the glut of obsolete
gear.
In March, Massachusetts enacted the
nation's first ban on personal disposal of computer
screens, television sets and other glass picture tubes
in landfills or incinerators.
Some corporations have added their
own in-house programs to cope with cast-off computer
gear. AstraZeneca, a major pharmaceutical and health
care services company with about 10,000 U.S.
employees, named a technology processes and services
group to make those decisions.
"We have donated computers to
schools and nonprofit organizations, and we've given
hundreds to Goodwill," said Irene Prince, a
spokeswoman at the company's U.S. headquarters in
Wilmington, Del., and a member of the panel.
But some groups like Goodwill, which
refurbish and resell donated computers, will not take
outdated systems.
"It is too costly for us to
even take them apart for the precious metals. All it
does is add to our trash bill," said Judi Volpini,
spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries of Delaware &
Delaware County Inc., the Wilmington, Del., office
that serves the state of Delaware and neighboring
Delaware County, Pa.
That forces organizations like the
Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce to look to
recyclers. Six months ago, the chamber replaced with
networked PCs work stations and a small mainframe unit
that had limited memory and could not be upgraded.
"We've gotten a whole new
system and now we have 15 work stations and a central
unit in a storeroom in my way," said Jean Kile,
who was recently calling recycling companies to clear
out the junked units. "I'm crawling over the old
ones."
So where do the recycled computers
go?
A Massachusetts company has
developed a pothole filler that can be made with the
plastic recovered from discarded computers.
IBM announced last month it would
market a $2,155 personal computer made of plastic
recycled from discarded computers.
A surprising number are resold.
Voorhees said Envirocycle
refurbishes central processing units, printers,
monitors and other items its technicians can easily
get working again and sells them at stores in
Syracuse, N.Y., and Binghamton, N.Y., and on Internet
auction sites.
Envirocycle sells the mountains of
leaded glass it recovers to cathode ray tube
companies. The company sends plastic waste to MBA
Polymers Inc., a California company that grinds,
separates and identifies the materials for recycling.
Cascade Assets Management also
resells many items.
"It's about 50 percent by
weight. We do a little upgrading but not much,"
Peters-Michaud said.
Older computer terminals can work
well as work stations linked to central servers, and,
using some new software packages, can even access the
Internet, he said.
"If you want to do basic
Internet browsing, write papers and do home finances,
the old computers are fine," Peters-Michaud said.
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