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Sending Our Cyber Waste Downstream
Last week, preparing for the arrival of grandchildren for Thanksgiving, I opened a rarely used closet. In it was a Jenga tower of old computers -- the oldest boxy clunkers on the bottom, unused scanners in the middle, bible-fat laptops high above, with keyboards and external drives chinked into the gaps. Wires and power cords entwined the forgotten tower, Kudzu vines in the cyber jungle.
I hadn't forgotten our old printers (which are obsolete before we pry them out of their spray foam boxes) because they're sitting in the garage on top of the woodpile, where a mouse of another sort now provides the input. They work, it's just that the new ones are faster and cheaper (even if the cartridges aren't) and a person can hardly afford not to buy one. But just try giving the old ones away.
Recently someone broke into our garage, apparently to steal a bike, but the cords hanging down from the printers got tangled in the spokes, and they gave up. Even with a bicycle thrown in, no one will take an old printer.
So when we learned of the Great eCycling Event at the Mall of America, we leapt into action. We disassembled the tower and loaded the components into the car.
When we got to the mall we saw rows of police cars with gumballs flashing and a computerized sign at the side of the road blinking the message, "E-Cycling event CLOSED." Yellow cones funneled traffic away from the drop site next to Ikea and toward the mall. Like corks caught in the current, we were swept into the swirl and soon found ourselves wandering inside the Forbidden City -- America's massive shrine to consumption. Funny, we came out here to get rid of stuff.
Later we learned that the Great eCycling Event closed early because of the mass of techno garbage dumped at the site. One million pounds was collected in one day, filling 50 semitrailer trucks.
Maybe it's just as well that we didn't add to the load. According to the Associated Press, an estimated 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the United States each year ends up being shipped to developing countries, where the poorest of the poor disassemble them with hammers and their bare hands, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of toxic chemicals.
"It is being recycled, but it's being recycled in the most horrific way you can imagine," says Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based group looking in to the lo-tech reality of hi-tech recycling.
Turns out, when it comes to recycling electronics, all of our Green altruism is for naught. Very little is being done to regulate how our cyber waste is processed. Although some states have passed regulations and the EPA is working to develop a system to certify companies that recycle electronics responsibly, for now we're simply relying on the age-old system of dumping our waste on those who live farther down the economic stream.
Meanwhile, I've got a car full of toxic computers. Looks like a Thanksgiving project for the grandchildren. Instead of moving the woodpile, we'll reconstruct the Jenga tower in the garage, next to the printers. And later, over a humble old-fashioned turkey, we'll acknowledge the blessings that have caused this glut, and vow, like all addicts, to kick the habit.
Susan Lenfestey lives in Minneapolis and writes at the clotheslineblog.com.
© 2007 Star Tribune
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11 Comments so far
Show AllAs a former English teacher I recall a short story in one of our literature texts where a young native boy struggles with his wish to defy tribal custom and go to the forbidden place. As the story unfolds we learn that his tribe has maintained the taboo from its ancestors never to go to this place, although it is not all that far away. By the end of the tale it's clear the area is Washington, D.C. and left off limits for its dangerous toxins, radiation, too, perhaps. Prophetic tale?
The manufactorers should be responsible for the garbage and the dismantling of.
I am sure things can be made upgradeable or be disembled safely.
Also, shouldn't people be given cash for the computers? There are valuable metals inside. Who gets the cash for the recyle event?
Here's another story of consumerism gone wild, with the writer hoping that someone will collect all of her garbage...old computeres and printers that weren't the "latest and the greatest." If she were somewhat more responsible, she wouldn't have filled her closets and garage with those castoffs...she'd still be using them!
I agree with evelyna. All manufacturers - mega rich corporations like Microsoft, Apple, Epson, HP, etc who are making millions and billions off of this technology should be held responsible for the life of the products. Governments have proven that they cannot safely regulate anything - therefore the profits corporations earn need to be allocated by law to deal with this mess in a safe and humane way.
Turns out, when it comes to recycling electronics, all of our Green altruism is for naught.
First we let the capitalist build the junk, and he made a toxic stew out of it.
Second we let the capitalist market the junk, so we are forced to upgrade every one to two years.
Third, we had the capitalist recycle the junk, and he recycled it in the worst way possible.
We keep making the same mistake over and over expecting a different outcome each time.
Suggestions: 1. Full costs in the retail prices of everything. 2. Closed loop production-recycling at the production facility. 3. Cultivate the power and responsibility which are always totally in the hands of the people. 4. Override the capitalist in the political arena - all crises are owned by the capitalist and his militarist sidekick.
All I can say is this is my first computer. A gift from my parents 2 years ago. But you know, I've had it buying coffee makers. Figured I went through 3 a decade, but no more. I now brew in a coffee pot on the stove and it didn't take long to get used to it. Seems like the company engineers purposely make all this stuff to have a short life span.
Evelyna said that "the manufacturers should be responsible for the garbage and the dismantling" - yes, but that doesn't get *us* off the hook. We, the consumers, must take our share of the blame, not just demand that others do.
Pattern-chaser
"Who cares, wins"
"The manufactorers should be responsible for the garbage and the dismantling of."
The consumer should share at least some of this.
"Also, shouldn't people be given cash for the computers? There are valuable metals inside. Who gets the cash for the recyle event?"
There is no "value" in those materials until recovered and concentrated in a form that is reusable. Processes that would do this are expensive. This is the gist of the story we are responding to.
[I promise this will get to the subject at hand, be patient]
Lately, I have heard sports journalists debating the "issue" of whether the New England Patriots are guilty of "running up the score." Now, this notion has been debated for years, and is, as far as I can tell, a concept invented by losers to shift the negatives from their bad performance to the winner's lack of "sportsmanship." Funny, my life partner and I never worry about this when playing Scrabble. The sports journalists, at least the ones with whom I agree, say--if you don't want the other team to score so much, play some defense! Play better!
So, why do countries allow the import of our toxic junk? Why do those countries not regulate such things so that their citizens (who are apparently otherwise without work because of really crappy government policies, restrictive customs, etc.) do not have to turn to work which sickens and kills them? This would be especially easy in a pretty much totalitarian society like China (which is where a lot of this sort of toxic dismantling takes place). Play some damned defense!
If we, as a nation, had to eat these things, I suppose a cogent policy could be come up with.
"So, why do countries allow the import of our toxic junk? Why do those countries not regulate such things so that their citizens (who are apparently otherwise without work because of really crappy government policies, restrictive customs, etc.) do not have to turn to work which sickens and kills them? "
Often the political leadership in such countries does not have the people's best interest in mind.
Our capitalism fails to charge the full actual cost of goods. It's assumed that the only "costs" are the materials, manufacturing, shipping, retail overhead, etc. There is no assessment of the cost of disposal, pollution, etc.
Actually, we should all pay, say $800 for the computer and another $400 (or whatever is appropriate) for recycling or disposal. Presently, disposal is up to the cities and that's covered by those those naughty, naughty, taxes.