It takes several thousand years for a monitor to decompose in a landfill.
Only 20% of electronic equipment can be reused, the remaining 80% must be properly recycled.
68% of companies still use a dumpsite as their main source of electronic disposal. Millions of dollars are lost each year by companies not recycling their electronic and computer assets.
For every computer that is recycled there are 4 that end up in a landfill.
Only 30% of homes in the US have computers. 92% have TV's and 93% have telephones.
The amount of precious metal recovered in one ton of recycled computers would normally require 30% more time and raw material when utilizing traditional methods.
Computer systems are replaced, on average, every 3 years.
Education is one of the largest beneficiaries of proper electronic recycling from industry.
62% of all electronic donations are discarded within the first 6 weeks, the two major reasons are:
Computer floppy disks & unsold software:
Several processors now recycle computer floppy disks. Unsold software is disassembled and separated into paper, plastic and disks. The disks, with are effectively brand new, are erased, formatted, tested, labeled, and reused. GreenDisk of Redmond Washington sells reclaimed disks as GreenDisk Recycled Diskettes. Individuals and companies may also send old or defective
disks directly to the company which will shred the disks and recycle the plastic and metal.
Of course disks are fully reusable. Removable labels are rare on disks, but stacking two labels is usually OK. For the top label, select the type that does not wrap over the top of the disk. To clear all old data and even viruses from a floppy you just need to do a "full" or "unconditional" disk format -- Macintosh: Use initialize from the finder. Windows 3.1/DOS: From a DOS prompt type "format a: /u". Windows 95: Right-click on the drive icon and select format. Select "full" format. Your disk will be checked fully for errors and work as good as new.
Computer Printers, Especially Laser Printers:
Laser printer cartridges are easily recycled, refilled or re-built. Some forward thinking companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, include a postage paid return label with each cartridge (A). Both laser and ink jet cartridges be refilled, typically a half dozen times. Dozens of companies exist to help you with this function. Yahoo! maintains a list of recycled printer supplies. Example companies are Environmental Laser a Native American owned cartridge re-manufacturer, and Albaat or Ink-Jet Refills or Jetpack will refill ink jet cartridges by mail.
Paper use in printers continues to skyrocket; the promise of the paperless office has clearly never materialized. Setting up a paper recycling program at your work can help. Businesses should consider printers that seamlessly print on both sides of a sheet. Individuals should ask that economical printers be manufactured that use both sides of a sheet of paper.
Uniform clean white paper from impact printers is among the most valuable types of recycled paper. Laser printer paper is less valuable because of the melted plastic toner. Very high quality recycled paper for use in printers is readily available: due to the finer grain of recycled paper, the print quality is often better than with virgin paper.
A view good national list of computer donation and recycling organizations can be found at the PEP National Directory of Computer Recycling Programs. Donate or recycle your old computers before they become totally obsolete! |
