PC World: The Dangers of E-Waste

[mynookmynook]

You have to know about the recycler. Ask what certifications that have. . Did they earn the EPA's R2 Certification? Have they obtained e-Stewards Certification?

There are MANY approved e-waste recyclers that WILL accept your old & outdated material for FREE recycling. You have to WANT to know more about who they are.

Check out the EPA's website to see the list of e-waste recyclers and then do some follow up research on the recycler in your town.

[strickmans]

it always about money

think about the people first

[Skyetchsolutions]

GOVERNMENTS should be the 1 who should start taking the 1st step to work out with all the manufacturers for solutions to have the waste properly recycled. No parties should just made MONEY and forget about the waste that they invented/created in the 1st place. Typical GOVERNMENTS always pushes all their waste to the poor at a very low cost, making them even poorer to do the jobs.

[JezebelDecibel]

The potential for reclining need to become more of a consideration in design & manufacturing.

[waellerbe]

@JezebelDecibel - I agree with you. Handling e-waste in a more responsible manner is the way to go.

[OnePeopleOneChina]

Do you have a New Year Resolution for 2011? If you are a US American resident, please, please, please urge your Congressman or Congresswoman to support HR (House Resolution) 6252 - the Congressional bill to ban export of e-waste to developing countries!

Reduce, Reuse, and use only a Responsible E-Recycler. To find one, go to BAN.org

[waellerbe]

@OnePeopleOneChina - Thank you for bringing our attention to HR 6252. I am an American citizen, and I am NOT proud of the irresponsible way that Europe and the US uses to make e-waste a responsibility for developing countries.

[sardonicbynature]

we actually ship stuff overseas....hahaha.

[tehGmoney]

@sardonicbynature what exactly is so funny about that?

[AmericanPiracyTrade]

MOST Trash is sold over these platforms.

ERAI, PARTHUNTER, IDEA, BROKERFORUM, ICSOURCE, NETCOMPONENTS, USBID, EBAY are main source of counterfeits, where millions of worth of counterfeit traded every week. If these platforms are shutdown, probably fakes and pirated business is gone which is done online in very sophisticated way.Agencies like ERAI, IDEA help improvise the counterfeit and some of them also provide escrow services for known piracy business.

[kevincolmergmail]

GOOD FOR THIS COMPANY!

[marl229]

Everyone has to know the facts that it is the US that is dumping the E-waste into these developing countries. If we dont dump, we dont need greenpeace or watchdog go out taking videotapes showing people. Why dont we process everything inside the United States? And then we wont have these kinds of problems. Am I right?

[usespanner1]

Yeah and a lot of people would dye because of lack of job in Pakistan/India etc.

These people work as a recycler in impoverished areas and it's their only opportunity not to be die becuase of famine.

Moreover recycling a PC/cell phone in the US is very expensive so it would result a higher cost of computers.

the solution is not to use so much heavy metals in PC's such as mercury.

[wardogmobius]

Computer components are estremely toxic. Sending this trash to the developing countries is sending poison. They will suffer and die because of our inability to deal with our problems. In every term, enviromental, social, financial. We must recycle.

[nucleartractor]

It's not too hard to do most of the recycling yourself, take the components out of the case, take the plastic trim off, then recycle the steel and plastic, then give the components to someone like them. I bet you could save money that way. My city recycling company takes anything metal or plastic (including car parts) in the curbside bin. It's really that easy.

[d0rkiishchris]

10 bucks ain't bad for a desktop pc or monitor. I'd do it. I've seen places that charge a lot more than that.

[101101101777]

some of it gets burned and dumped in the oceans too

[Ticomfreak]

@101101101777 yea, the plastic gets burned, the acid gets dumped in the ocean

[waellerbe]

@101101101777 - Dumping into the ocean is even worse. I can only imagine what may happen to some of our seafood that we consume.

[101101101777]

Let's just keep all the electronics in big rooms for years and years until we have nano machines that can crawl all over it and use the junk to assemble their bodies and thus create a new race!

[dhymers]

Journeyman Pictures has a couple of documentaries on E-waste; well worth watching, reporters go to Africa and China where 90% of all illegal Ewaste is dumped.

[kiaganga]

its about saying no to the nexed new thing

[BFTCaL]

go track the material and find out how concerned they are about recycling electronic scrap.

[BFTCaL]

Pledge my ASS.

[nareitz]

I agree with most of the message. Recycling is a good thing. We should be good stewards of our planet. However, I disagree in regards to the use of prison labor. Those SOBs are living free. We NEED to start working our prisoners more. Law enforcement is the number one expense in almost every city, county, and state. This MUST change.

[101101101777]

Prisoners need to meditate, Vispassana mediation is a group that has done trial runs and proven meditation to be very effective in reforming inmates, clearing the thoughts and calming down the anger. Prison time simply teaches ppl to be better criminals, yet concise efforts combined with focused work and meaningful tasks could prove effective.

[martinlotus]

no one likes to spend money in order to throw trash, they would rather throw to the dumping place to save 10-15 bucks. what i want to say is, recycling should be free because recycling companies utilize these waste and earn profit from it. then why should we pay for that?

[madjimms]

@martinlotus Because they don't make enough profit.

[waellerbe]

@martinlotus - I understand your position. We can blame the Industrial Revolution for introducing us to a life that shows us how to be wasteful. While I don't work for Green Citizen, I understand that the fee of $10 to $15 is a CHOICE that we can make, to participate in a solution that is healthier for the environment. We live in a time when we can wait for the Government to come up with all the solutions. We have the ability to create change without a lot of politics involved.

[GregGreazy]

@martinlotus There are recycling places that give you cash for your electronics. These people in the video are crooks. They try to make it appear like they are the good guys but in reality they are the worst people in the recycling business. Basically they are charging you money for giving them money and business. Only an complete idiot would give these type of company's your electronics. Any place that dont give you cash for recycling your materials is a bad selfish greedy recycling company.

[crse2004]

is this a rage against the machine video?

[modernactivist]

you are right, we only have one world. i mean, you amy not like al gore or other advocates like him, but their message is good, bravo pc world. we can save this planet, one step at a time

[BATWOMANN233]

e-waste rocks! jk

[killyourbuddha]

Another way to cut down on ewaste is to stop buying stupid crap... oh, such as the icarta ipod dock/ toilet roll. Cheap electronics are terrible too becuase they break or malfunction too soon. Even "premium" products like the ipod are only built to last 2 years.

[shebba1992]

ive had my ipod for 5 years now?

and its perfectly fine.

[crse2004]

some guy in a local eletrical store said they r only supposed to last 1 year... i think it depends how often you play radio-head on it... lol :D

[jjjcoles]

Great stuff, keep it away from the 3rd world countries!!

[runescapemaste]

good job!save the enviroment!

[LivDelicious]

Great job !