Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Recycling The First World, in the Third

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the reality-check dept.

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?

5 of 577 comments (clear)

  1. Good by Radical_Dreamer · · Score: 0, Troll

    Glad to know our waste goes to use...at least were helping someone

  2. Taco, Google. Google, Taco. by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 2, Troll
    Anyone know the proper way to dispose of a monitor?

    Got thirty seconds?

    Google has a few suggestions regarding monitor disposal.

    Question: What is the opposite of investigative reporting?

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  3. Possible Human Carcenogen by Husaria · · Score: 0, Troll

    They say toner ink is a possible carcinogen, article is simply FUD. Absetos was thought to be a carcinogen, but it really isn't, that was just pure FUD. But then again, EVERYTHING these days is cancer causing..

    And, wtf, why not simply send those computers to those countries as working comptuers instead of in garbage? As with broken parts or just parts, do the following: launch them in a rocket and put it in space.

    --
    Slashdot Hypocrisy at work?
  4. I am so glad ... by pgrote · · Score: 0, Troll

    that someone is finding value in old hardware. It's good that their economic system can support it.

    As for the enviornmental concerns, last time I looked China wasn't the 51st state. If their government can't control it then it's their problem not ours.

    Amazing how America can be portrayed as the bad guy all around the world. Face facts, if you're stupid enough to inhale fumes from PC parts you're burning you should be dead. Those who don't die make money.

    If you don't like where you live ... move. It's like Sam Kinnison used to say, "You live in a freaking desert. Move."

  5. USA's fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Now you all see what President Bush's policy leads to. By not accepting environmental laws like the Kyoto protocol etc. you get this kind of shit. Here in the Netherlands nowadays here the producers are obliged by law to recycle all electronic devices, so they don't end up in China or India.
    Ever seen the reports about the beaches in India littered with old oil tankers that get stripped in the same conditions as in China (a industry for 1 million people).
    Maybe Bush could start by forbidding that these things end up getting recycled in this awful way.