High-tech tools can take a toll on the environment

By SEGO JACKSON
Special to the Journal

I LOVE my computer. I want everyone to have one. It provides me a source of great productivity, great knowledge and swift communication. I bought my computer several years ago and paid $2,500 for the quickest system with the latest technology. I use it for everything. But now my computer is too slow to run the latest software. It is considered useless and without value.

Contacts for computer recycling information:

NW Product Stewardship Council’s goal is to integrate Product Stewardship into the policy and economic structures of the Pacific Northwest. The Council has initiated a work group on computers with the goal of fostering product stewardship principles through purchasing practices. The work group staff is meeting with major computer buyers in the PNW to learn more about their purchasing protocols and to encourage the integration of Environmentally Preferable Purchasing principles into those protocols. Contact: David Stitzhal at 206- 723-0528, e-mail King County Computer Recovery Project, just launched by King County Solid Waste Division, is a 4-month pilot project to network 30-40 existing refurbishing companies, charities and recycling organizations to better give people options for their unwanted computer equipment. For information about the project, call Lisa Sepanski at (206) 296-8800. Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation (WCRC) is a citizen advocacy group noted for its work in the late 80s in support of the Waste Not Washington Act (which brought us curbside recycling), its work in the 90s on oil recycling and.the well-covered Packaging Awards and Booby Prizes. It has established producer responsibility as one of its major work efforts for the next decade. It is exploring draft policies, legislation, and initiative language related to computer take-back and is seeking employees of computer and software companies to help in this effort. Contact: e-mail, 206-675-0836. Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition has initiated a Clean Computer Campaign. Their Web site has information on the heavy metals and other toxins contained in electronic waste, international policy, and recycling options. National Recycling Coalition (NRC) Electronics Recycling Initiative is compiling nationwide information about electronics reuse and recycling activities including strategy papers, ongoing and pilot collection programs and procurement of computers or recycling services. For more information, check out NRC's Web site.

I now own a $2,500 doorstop.

Not wanting to throw this valuable piece of junk into the trash, I researched the options. I found that my computer, monitor and peripherals contain toxins and heavy metals that are a serious concern. Computer monitors contain cathode ray tubes, that contain over five pounds of lead, along with other toxic materials. TVs contain the same type of tube. Circuit boards contain lead, chromium and other hazardous materials. Plastic casings can also contain toxins in the form of fire retardant chemicals.

What’s worse, there is an onslaught of this used equipment headed toward disposal. With technology and software developing rapidly, the useful life of a computer continues to shrink. Many retailers suggest planning on replacement every two years. Projections are that nationwide, at least 315 million personal computers will become obsolete by 2004. And the switch over to digital television broadcasting is scheduled for 2006. While gadgets will be purchasable to adapt our current analog television sets so they remain usable, there will be a great number of televisions destined for disposal.

Just about everyone I know believes there is something wrong here. Government agencies are starting to take notice of the increasing number of toxic pieces of equipment that enter the landfills and incinerators. The state of Massachusetts just banned cathode ray tubes from their landfills. This means that both computer monitors and TVs can no longer be disposed in the garbage. More states and local jurisdictions are expected to quickly follow their lead. It seems the “into the garbage can” disposal option will be gone soon.

I tried to donate my computer to the local thrift store, schools and small recycling businesses. They told me that donations of good, workable, fairly current equipment are great, but getting a lot of broken, totally obsolete stuff just passes the disposal headache and costs on to them. Computer refurbishing and recycling businesses such as RePC provide a great service to our community, but they too must be careful not to be overwhelmed with items that create costs to their business, instead of profits.

But wait a minute. Maybe I should have thought about the disposal of my computer before I bought it. By making sure my computer was upgradable or recyclable, I wouldn’t be faced with this disposal problem. And maybe I could influence computer designers to make my computer more environmentally friendly?

Maybe, but go out and try to buy the most environmentally benign computer, cradle to grave, and see how far you get. I find computer purchasing decisions complicated enough already.

Shouldn’t the manufacturer share some of the responsibility for making sure these products respect the environment? Wouldn’t it be great if the manufacturer thought not only about how the product would be used, but about what happens to the product once no one wants it anymore? They could design it so that it could be easily taken apart and recycled. They could make the parts out of materials that are made from recycled materials. Or better yet, they could make sure the system is easily upgradable so the consumer didn’t have to buy an entire new system every couple of years.

So maybe the approach that will be most effective is to require manufacturers to take back their products when obsolesce is reached. Make them responsible for dealing with the “disposal” problem. They could do this either directly, or through a network they jointly establish and finance. By placing the problem back in their laps they will design items that have minimal effect on the environmental.

This approach is called Product Stewardship or Producer Responsibility. Product Stewardship is a principle that directs all actors in the life cycle of a product to minimize the impacts of that product on the environment. Under product stewardship, all participants in the product life cycle – designers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, consumers, recyclers and disposers – share responsibility for the environmental effects of products.

Producer Responsibility places financial and/or physical responsibility for a product’s environmental impacts on the producer. Products put on the market need to be designed so that end-of-life reuse, recycling and environmentally sound disposal are easy, available, affordable and possible.

It seems evident that the most significant producer responsibility efforts in the U.S. will focus on electronic equipment, specifically computers, computer monitors, televisions and other products that include a cathode ray tube. Is the computer industry capable of setting up such as system?

There are a number of ways to bring this about. Ideally, the computer industry would band together and set up such as system. This model is being used in British Columbia for other commodities such as paint and used motor oil. Alternatively, businesses and governments can incorporate Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) practices into their purchasing criteria, including a requirement that manufacturers take back units after their useful life to the business has ended.

Legislation requiring take-back would make this universally available to all consumers. I expect legislation to be introduced to address this in a number of states this next year, perhaps including Washington. And if legislation is not forthcoming, there are a number of environmental organizations considering use of the initiative process to require computer take-back, including here in Washington.

Washington and California should take the lead on this in the U.S. Much work is underway in Europe, and the U.S. should neither be the spoiler nor the follower of those efforts. While work is underway in other states, haven’t Washington and California businesses, governments and citizens been major benefactors of the computer revolution via local industries, jobs, stock holdings and taxes? Considering our region’s role in creating this situation, the right thing for us to do is to act now to develop a solution.

Other computer lovers who want more information or are interested in assisting in these efforts can use the resources in the sidebar to get started. In the meantime, ask questions, purchase carefully, use Environmentally Preferable Purchasing, require take back by vendors, donate rapidly, don’t store outdated equipment, support legislative and initiative take back efforts and look forward to the day you will be using one of the many local take back centers established by the computer industry.