Peoples Republic of South Devon

Recycling Technology

September 26th, 2008

The weekly technology column from those gurus of geek at Plymouth’s at Orange Crate

Technology moves so fast in this day age – January’s high-spec PC is December’s crawling, technological sloth; today’s ‘must have’ mobile phone is tomorrow’s embarrassing has-been, destined to be used only for sending text messages under the table to avoid it being seen by your peers.

Luckily it has become cheaper and easier to upgrade any of your household or personal gadgets, but unfortunately it can come at a different and more serious cost…

On average, mobile phone users upgrade their handsets once every 18-24 months, and industry estimates state that nearly 200 million mobile phones will be sold in the USA alone this year. The majority of these buyers will already have existing phones, meaning that over 100 million old handsets will be retired. According to further industry estimates, over 250 million PCs will become obsolete in the next three years, requiring replacement by newer technology. So what happens to all these old appliances? Well, here is where the problem often lies…

It is an unfortunate fact that the majority of old computers, monitors, mobile phones, and related accessories still end up at the dump. According to the US National Safety Council, 85% of the 63 million computers taken out of service last year ended up on landfills. Needless to say, this is not good news. Not only can components of these gizmos be highly damaging to the environment if not processed correctly, the dumping of them presents a huge wasted opportunity. But things may finally be changing.

Facilities for recycling PCs have been available for a while, but it is only recently that laws and regulations have been passed to make sure that businesses comply with safe disposal of electronic equipment (see WEEE compliance). But it remains in the hands of governments to not only enforce these regulations, but to make them financially viable for businesses and individuals.

Luckily, there may be another way. Computer Aid is a charity that encourages businesses to donate their old PCs so they can be used in developing countries. Their projects not only help to improve education, trade, and productivity in these developing countries, they also offer a brilliant alternative to businesses here who are upgrading their systems. And the idea thankfully seems to be catching on, with other organizations and charities running variations of the theme.

Similar concepts are also being developed for the recycling of mobile phones. Companies such as ReCellular and CollectiveGood in the States, and Mazuma in the UK process and refurbish donated handsets, then send them abroad to be resold in countries where consumers can’t afford the latest technology. Although this may sound a little mercenary on the surface, it both prolongs the lives of the technology and provides an affordable service to developing countries.

In addition to these, the companies also take phones that are at the end of their lives and send them to other specialist enterprises that reclaim as much material from them as possible. The reclaimed metals can then be resold and reused - a much better conclusion for them than ending up in the dustbin.

So the seeds have been sewn and all that remains is for people to start using these services on a larger scale. If nothing else, the financial rewards are there to be seen, both for individuals and businesses. And in all honesty, many of these schemes do everything for you – even as far as sending you a box to post your phone off in! So spread the word…

.
Related articles

%RELATEDPOSTS%

Get all the latest, subscribe to the People’s Republic of South Devon

Find out more about Orange Crate

————————————————————————————

————————————————————————————

Random Posts:

None Found

Entry Filed under: Environment, technology