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Recycling The First World, in the Third
simoncito writes "Ever wondered where that old useless printer ended up? BBC has a photo report about chinese villagers building ramshackle systems out of used and discarded first world computer parts. The effects on their surroundings are drastic - I never knew hardware was so poisonous." Worth a look if you aren't desensitized to suffering.
Anyone know the proper way to dispose of a monitor?
There's also an interesting article here which has been previously mentioned on Slashdot, that might be worth a read. Cheers.
Usually, you can take your monitor to an appropriate dealer or electronics shop, where trained & certified technicians can safely deactivate, disassemble & dispose of the monitor for you. This is what I'm looking for right now.
Now that i have a new LCD, I wonder if they're trash-safe - I haven't researched if there's any hazards concerning say, the liquid in the display, or any other chemicals.
i'm amazed that i survived - an airbag saved my life.
How can you tell the difference between a "reputable" electronics recycler and someone whose contributing to the poisining of people who are all ready in a bad position?
I know I've gone through my share (or more than my share) of electronics in my day, and I'm afraid that a lot of it has just made it's way to the landfill. With computers becoming obsolete at the rate they do, how can I get rid of this stuff without wasting the reusable metals or poisoning complete strangers?
- sig? who is this sig of which you speak?
>>who can safely crush the CRT and dispose of the toxic plastic and electronics.
Yeah sure. And just where the hell are they going to "dispose" of this crap? We, as a race, expend great energy in gleaning these rare toxic compounds from the earth, then we aren't smart enough to recycle them. Instead we have the conceit to think they can be "disposed" of -- the only place for it to go is back into the earth (eventually)! Getting materials in the front door of recycling centers is only a part of the battle. The real battle is getting manufacturer's to build stuff that is optimized for recycling as well as use.
Are LCDs any easier to dispose cleanly? I am just curious because everything here is talking about CRTs.
qslack.com
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These workers are sorting plastic by heating it with a cigarette lighter and sniffing the fumes. They complained of headaches.
Okay, first of all, is the First World supposed to have a monopoly on common sense?
I agree, this is all tragic, but this is hardly the fault of the First World. We're not forcing China to take our old computer parts. They have a government that clearly doesn't care about the people. Unfortunately the only way this is ever going to change in China is for them to have a revolution.
It would be nice if we could do it for them, but the fact is, we can't. Sometimes people must be responsible for their own goverment. We can't realistically overthrow China without serious repercussions. If the people overthrow the government though, I don't think a whole lot of countries are going to be too upset about it.
So, yeah, I'm sorry this is happening, but eventually, it's going to be one thing too many and the people are going to revolt. There's not a whole lot anyone outside of China can do until then. They have to come to terms with the fact that their government doesn't protect them or even care about them.
I have wondered for a long time why they dont use old computer monitors as TVs. Free (used) monitor, with the minimal cost of a NTSC to VGA converter, and you have a cheap hi resolution monitor...
The reason I ask is that the US Navy has a regulation that their ships must be scrapped following strict environmental standards. They do about 10 a year at a cost 20 times higher than the standard fee for ship disposal. Everyone else sends their ships to India where they are scrapped using methods that are tremendously damaging to the environment ("PCB contaminated oil? Burn it off").
sPh
Okay, moving story. Poor third world people. Clearly evil Western powers at work.
But... can we trust the source. The quoted Basel Action Network says that a pile of 500 computers contains 717Kg of lead. That just doesn't sound plausible. Does every computer really have 3.15 pounds of lead in it? Where? Not in the case (all plastic and steel usually). Lead is used in PCB manufacturing, but has anyone heard of a 3lb. PCB?Lead is not a major component of ICs. Perhaps if it was an old portable computer is might have Lead-Acid batteries, but I very much doubt there's more than 3 pounds of the stuff in any portable.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I am sceptical of this figure. If their basic stats are wrong, how much can we trust the rest of the reporting? It seems emotive and biased. I'm sure there is a story here and a legitimate concern, but I'd like to see the real facts.
Sailing over the event horizon
Lot of neat stuff used to show up. Dirt cheap. Stepper motors - $.50. Optical encoders - $2. I got a unused W.Bergman 100:1 gear reducer for $1. It was about $200 about 20 years ago. Can't image what it would go for now.
But all the technology changed. It used to be all discrete componets you could reuse/recycle, vacuum tubes, transisters, etc... Now you can hardly reuse that stuff. It's all surface mount stuff.
Recycling raw materials is borderline economical even for the Chinese. Gold plating is only a few angstroms thick. Composite plastics can't be recycled that I know of.
Of course, since all the stuff is made there to begin with, perhaps the Chinese ought to think about manufacturing the stuff so it's easier and safer to recyle.
I give you two days hacking out a living in this village before you recant that amazingly ignorant statement.
These people have the choice to either destroy their village and make a little money short term and destroy the land long term, or live in squalor, starving, for the short term.
You are right. These people do have a choice. Just like the 12 year old prostitutes in Thailand have a choice.
Open your eyes, get outside your own little world for just a little while. See things from another point of view.
Better yet, go to China. There are problems like this all over the place.
I don't know who modded your comment up. Slashdot needs a "-1: Ignorant"
On the second page of the article it says: a pile of 500 computers contains 717kg of lead, 1.36kg of cadmium, 863 grams of chromium and 287 grams of mercury . So where is my PC hiding that almost 1.5kg (about 3 pounds) of lead??
Definately try to recycle any old hardware if it works. My wife is a special ed teacher, and always trying to find people to donate old machines. It is amazing how many individuals and companies will just trash an old system before looking to see if anyone else wants to use it.
A friend of mine spent months doing biological research in the Gobi desert in China. They visited small villages and towns in the middle of absolute nowhere; places where they had never even seen a caucasian; through big cities and small. He drove thousands of miles, through just about every type of terrain imaginable.
One of the things that struck him was the incredible amount of pollution taking place, and the complete lack of consciousness of the problem. Chemicals being dumped straight out of factories into rivers, etc. That sort of thing.
They spent some time in a windy little desert village where the dust swirled thickly. You couldn't see too far when the wind blew, and people sometimes wore those disposable white breathing masks when going out. It was a mining town, but when my friend finally realized just what they mined in that town, they got the hell out. It wasn't desert dust enveloping the town, but asbestos dust from the mine and surrounding landscape. The inhabitants either didn't know or didn't care about the implications of breathing high volumes of asbestos dust on a constant basis. Certainly the government didn't care. But so it goes for China, the most polluted country on the planet.
So when I hear that discarded stuff from the US makes its way to China to add to the pollution there, I'm not surprised at all. The utter lack of controls on pollution by the government does indeed take a toll on the population. This is just another of thousands of instances of large scale pollution taking place in China. While I do not condone US corporations paying the Chinese to take our poisonous junk, the blame lies largely on the government of China for allowing this to happen. They do it to their own people with their own spew, and it's sad that they're willing to add our spew to the mix. It's unfortunate that life is apparently so cheap in China. Until they take a more protective stance on their own people and environment, I'm afraid there will always be countries eager to send them their refuse.
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I live in New York City. I had a monitor (non-working, beyond repair) to dispose of. I tried the following:
1. I called about 10 computer repair shops, asking them what to do, and if I could PAY them to dispose of it properly. No.
2. I called the City's garbage/recycling department to ask them what to do. They had no special information, and instructed me to put it out with the trash.
3. I called the local branch of the EPA, asking what to do, since I know that it contains toxic waste. They said that there were no special disposal method that I could do, but that it was technically illegal for me to throw it away. I asked her what I should do... she recommended that I just throw it away.
Yes, yes, I did do a Google search. This was 2 years ago, and there weren't any relevant results.
I hope this is better now.
It's a problem when someone like me, who spent about an hour trying to find the right thing to do, cannot find the right thing to do.
Mucous membranes are the part of your brain that, like, make you think about mucous. --Beavis
Why do so many PCs need to be scrapped if not for the godawful software with the unquenchable lust for hardware. Why is the PC you bought 3.56 nanominutes ago too slow already? WTF is that about?
Last year I got rid of a 9 year old PC that was a workhorse but eventually ran out of upgrade capability even for my humble needs. Today I have 5 PC's in my house. The newest one is 4 years old the oldest is 8. And frankly if you can't get the job done on one of them then you are doing the wrong job. They are Caldera (or SuSE I keep going back and forth) and Win95OSR2. And that's it.
PCs get recycled because people get suckered into thinking that 1.6Ghz, a half Gig of RAM and 2 120GB drives and a 48X CDRW to replace that old crappy 32X is gonna make their lives perfect. And you know what? If you did everything the Gods-o-Redmond told you, you really would have to upgrade forever. I mean what's Office 2000 without more compute power than ran NORAD? Nothing, it's crap that's what.
So if you feel bad for the poor orphans chained to their soldering irons then think of Bill (I have more money than the entire fucking nation of Peru) Gates and the scourge that is his software.