Practical recycling for green computing

Can you imagine getting stuck behind a queue of 13,000 double-decker buses? That’s how much electrical waste the UK produces every year, and three-quarters of it ends up in landfill sites, much of it overseas, where toxins put communities at risk.

At least a thousand of those buses represent computing and IT equipment. According to Waste Online, two million working PCs end up as landfill every year. Yes, that’s working computers that someone else could use. It seems we’re so keen to have the latest and best gadgets that we throw stuff away before it even breaks down.

The Government, spurred on by the European Union (EU), is taking steps to promote the responsible use and disposal of electrical and electronic equipment, but there’s a lot we can do as individuals to minimise our contribution to the problem of electronic waste.

Remember that you can read the first part of this feature, along with other features, news stories and reviews related to the wide theme of green computing at computeractive.co.uk/tags/green_computing

What’s the problem?
More than 80 per cent of the energy consumed in the lifetime of a PC goes into making it, and the weight of fossil fuels used in manufacture is 11 times greater than the weight of the finished product. In addition, virtually every part of a PC is made from non-renewable resources, many of which are highly toxic.

The EU is tackling both problems with a dual set of legislation. The RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive, which came into force in July 2006, limits the use of substances such as cadmium, lead and mercury in computer equipment.

The WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive is due to come into force in 2007 and will eventually compel manufacturers to accept responsibility for recycling old goods when new ones are purchased.

Products that fall under the WEEE directive will be marked with a crossed-out wheelie bin, and you may already have seen this device on some of your most recent electrical purchases.

When finally ratified, retailers will be obliged to take back customers’ old equipment on a like-for-like basis whenever a new item is sold. These items will be collected by distributors and manufacturers who will then be responsible for disposing of them through approved treatment facilities.

The problem, of course, is who pays for this. At the moment it appears that if a consumer takes an old product back to any retailer and buys a like-for-like replacement (a new notebook PC in exchange for an old one, say) then no charges are necessary.

But if the retailer is asked to collect, especially where bulkier products such as washing machines are concerned, they may have the right to charge.

It seems unlikely that retailers will make charges for dealing with recycling apparent, preferring instead to bury the long-term cost of the process in purchase prices or delivery charges for new kit.

How individuals can help
It’s nice to know the EU does more than generate urban myths about straight bananas, but it will be some time before the new IT directives begin to bite, and in the interim there are millions of PCs in use that will need to be recycled or reused.

It is here that we can make a difference as individuals, by keeping equipment going for longer, passing it on to somebody else when we can no longer use it ourselves, and by recycling it responsibly when it finally expires.

There’s no reason why a PC shouldn’t last for at least five years, but the industry deems them ripe for replacement after three. This isn’t because they are likely to break down. In fact, the reverse is true: a PC that has lasted three years has proved itself free of manufacturing defects and is likely to go on for years more if properly maintained.

The imperative to upgrade is created by manufacturers who persuade us to buy newer, faster machines when the useful life of existing equipment could be extended by a relatively minor upgrade, such as adding memory.