CBS2CHICAGO.COM - May 2004

High-Tech Trash

Antonio Mora

May 10, 2004 5:58 pm US/Central

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CHICAGO (CBS 2) Technology is advancing so quickly that computers become out-of-date in just a couple of years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there will be half a billion computers no longer in use by 2007. But the days of throwing out old computers and electronics with the garbage may soon be over.

Obsolete computers are only the tip of the growing high-tech trash mountain. Millions of Americans are replacing their televisions with new high-definition sets, their VCRs with DVDs, their cell phones with camera phones.

And lots of the old electronics are getting trashed. The EPA estimates two million tons of electronics a year end up in landfills -- that's equivalent to the weight of some ten Sears Towers and everything in them!

But how dangerous is it?

Computers are especially toxic, filled with mercury, cadmium, barium, flame retardants and worst of all, lead.

"Each individual part of that electronic that we are demanufacturing is recycled 100 percent,” said Brian Brundage, CEP of Intercon Solutions.

And here's another reason to recycle: If you throw out your computer with the garbage, it may end up in Asia. Nearly 80 percent of U.S..-generated electronic scrap is sent abroad. People in impoverished Asian countries scavenge the waste for valuable materials, taking no precautions, possibly absorbing deadly toxins. It is dangerous and inefficient.

In this country two states are banning electronics from landfills. Two others will force manufacturers to take back their obsolete products. So far, there has been no action in Illinois.

Eventually, we will all have to bear the cost of the high-tech trash problem, probably by paying an up-front disposal fee every time we buy electronics.

Finally, there's some good news from Chicago's Department of Environment: The city will establish a year-round permanent site for collection of electronics for recycling and household hazardous waste this summer.

MORE INFO ON THE TOPIC OF E-WASTE:

US EPA Resource Conservation Challenge - Electronics Recycling - http://epa.gov

ILLINOIS EPA

ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE & ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY (.pdf) - http://www.illinoisbiz.biz/com/pdf/RecycleElecs.pdf

The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition Click on "New Release: Poison PC's and Toxic TV's" and then scroll down to "Useful Links" -- "What's in a Desktop Computer" and click there, you'll get the full inventory of the computer's components. - http://www.svtc.org/

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