E-waste

Can I ditch my computer and be green?

Computers may be a prime example of planned obsolescence, but you can decrease the damage along the way…

o Lucy Siegle
o The Observer, Sunday 30 January 2011

There is a disheartening moment when your computer makes weird noises and enforces Moore's law – which decrees that the computing power bought for a certain amount of money doubles every 18 months – by signalling its own obsolescence.

When it gives up the ghost, don't let it become another piece of unloved e-waste. The UK is responsible for 15% of Europe's total. Around 900 containers of e-waste from Western Europe lands in Asia and Africa each week. Some 80% is dumped, often burned in pits, releasing pollutants ranging from mercury in flatscreens to toxic heavy metals in a PC's central processing unit or barium in the plastic casings.

Also think of the squandered energy and resources used in making it. As Julie Hill reminds us in The Secret Life of Stuff, computing is one of the top water-using industries. Turning the 3G off on your iPhone reduces its energy consumption by 43-60%. You can buy greener, too – epeat.net rates electronics. The latest Greenpeace report shows electronics companies making progress on phasing out toxic materials but not on increasing longevity. Hardly suprising given their mission is to sell more. But this should be our focus. While the advice used to be to buy a sleek laptop (less power hungry), now it's to invest in a modular PC built with replaceable, repairable components and a capacity to upgrade. Eco beauty isn't all about being sleek and wafer thin.


Email Lucy at lucy.siegle@observer.co.uk or visit guardian.co.uk/profile/lucysiegle for all her articles in one place

Notes:

http://www.videojug.com/interview/electronic-waste-2


http://www.videojug.com/interview/responsibility-for-e-waste-2

WEEE directive
ROHS
Basel convention

Substances in electronic goods

Toxics

Lead (Pb)
Copper (Cu)
Cadmium (Cd)
Chromium VI
Mercury
Flame retardants - PBB, PBDE etc.

Environmental principles:

RRR - reduce, reuse, recycle

PPP - polluter pays principle

Independent analysis by NGO's
Compliance to standards
Compliance to regulations

Loopholes - ways to avoid compliance - exporting waste as 2nd-hand goods...

Alternatives to lead: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1281311/
Carbon fooprint of electronic products: http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/environment/2011/winter/carbon-footprints-weber.shtml
Ranking tables of electronic goods producers: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/toxics/2010/version16/Ranking%20tables%20Oct%202010-All%20companies.pdf

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/toxics/electronics/

EU deal on e-waste: http://www.euractiv.com/en/sustainability/lawmakers-seal-deal-toxic-substances-electronic-goods-news-499989
How green are Apple: http://www.apple.com/environment/#footprint

The Basel Convention: http://www.basel.int/
BAN: ban.org

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/index_en.htm

Certification for green products:
EPEAT: http://www.epeat.net/
Based on IEEE 1680

Report writing:

http://www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/reports.htm