A Green Way to Dump Low-Tech Electronics

[groovedaddy]

This month, Edward Reilly, 35, finally let go of the television he had owned since his college days.
Although the Mitsubishi set was technologically outdated, it had sat for years in Mr. Reilly’s home in Portland, Me., because he did not know what else to do with it, given the environmental hazards involved in discarding it.

“It’s pretty well known that if it gets into the landfill, it gets into the groundwater,” he said. “Its chemicals pollute.”

But the day after the nationwide conversion to digital television signals took effect on June 12, Mr. Reilly decided to take advantage of a new wave of laws in Maine and elsewhere that require television and computer manufacturers to recycle their products free of charge. He dropped off his television at an electronic waste collection site near his home and, he said, immediately gained “peace of mind.”

Over the course of that day, 700 other Portland residents did the same.

Since 2004, 18 states and New York City have approved laws that make manufacturers responsible for recycling electronics, and similar statutes were introduced in 13 other states this year. The laws are intended to prevent a torrent of toxic and outdated electronic equipment — television sets, computers, monitors, printers, fax machines — from ending up in landfills where they can leach chemicals into groundwater and potentially pose a danger to public health.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/science/earth/30ewaste.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[MineralMan]

1. Boy, do I need one of those drop-offs.

I have multiple CRT monitors and TVs that need to be cleared away. I won't pay the high fees charged here for disposal, so they sit in my basement in an unruly stack.

[Indydem]

2. Damn straight!

Send that electronic trash to those yellow and brown people's countries! Keep it out of our landfills!

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/toxic-technology-contaminates

:sarcasm:

[imdjh]

4. Yellow and brown people don't generate e-waste?

I must have forgotten that all of yellow and brown people are macro-biotic Amish.

[Indydem]

5. Read up on where your hazardous wastes goes to be "recycled"

http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=1809

http://www.arnoldporter.com/resources/documents/Arnold&Porter_PreparingForGreaterE-WasteLegislation.pdf

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/

[groovedaddy]

7. 60 Minutes also did a segment on this a while back. n.t

[kestrel91316]

8. So sending it to a landfill is BETTER? Once the tv has been manufactured,

then used, then worn out and is no longer usable, what exactly do YOU propose should be done with it?

And no, not making or buying it in the first place is not an option. It has already been bought and used.

<crickets chirping>

[Indydem]

9. I don't have the solution, but shipping our lead filled haz waste to other countries is not right!

We need a sustainable responsible solution, and this legislation forcing corps to recyle the old equipment has just made them outsource it to the most vulnerable of our planet, leaving them in a hazardous waste cesspool.

[imdjh]

11. Funny how that works.

"Do this! It's good for the environment! Make it a law!"

"Ooops, we didn't see that coming."

[kestrel91316]

15. Then stop bitching and YOU personally get to work on a solution.

You are either part of the problem or part of the solution.

I happen to believe that half a loaf is better than none - that an imperfect solution is better than no solution at all, or just endless whining.

[imdjh]

10. What has that got to do with anything?

My regular recycling doesn't end up in my own backyard either. Some guy who makes a buck by chewing up aluminum cans does it someplace out of sight.

But my objection is to your characterization of "yellow and brown people" as being on the receiving end but not the generating end of technology. In case you haven't noticed, nearly ALL of your electronics come from Yellowbrownpeopleland.

[Indydem]

13. Oh right, I get it.

They made it, so they can deal with the toxic levels of lead and neurotoxins in their air and water later. Not to mention the children who roam through the piles and piles of discarded computers and electronics working for pennies a day.

I get it, we make them make it for slave wages, we get to use it for our luxurious lifestyle, and then we can send it back to them for recycting.

Are you f-ing kidding me? This is exploitation pure and simple. Just because the corporations have enslaved entire populations to make their products so they can reap huge profits doesn't make it ok to victimize the same people and dump tons of toxic waste on them.

[imdjh]

14. "we make them make it for slave wages" We're holding a gun to China's head?

So if GE makes it in Peoria then it should go to Peoria, but if GE makes it in China, then it should still go to Peoria.


You should have stopped with "I don't have a solution."

[Indydem]

16. Yes, because the average Chinese citizen gets to choose....

Uh, Sorry, No. The Chinese government is an oppressive master that makes contracts with American corporations to produce the iPhones and whatchmawhos everyone wants.

The Chinese people are glad just to have a job. They don't get to pick.

Never thought I'd hear someone on DU champion the disposal of toxic waste on the poor citizens of the third world...

[imdjh]

17. China is a Third World country?

I didn't know that.

[imdjh]

3. We have HAZ drop offs twice a year here. Doing it a long time now.

At the town center, they have a major set-up twice a year, you don't even have to get out of your car. Computers, TV, microwaves, batteries, paint, gasoline, cleaning supplies... whatever you have they will take it, including old fireworks, flares, and industrial stuff. By not being a pain in the ass, by not screening people to ensure that they are residents of the municipality (some do this) or that they are dropping off commercially used stuff- they get a huge response.

Make it easy on people to do the right thing and most will do it. Actually, if you just don't make it hard they will usually do the right thing. These places that only take this and not that, or that do other annoying things are not helping as much as they might.

[elocs]

6. My local community has a hazardas material site at its landfill.

Their charge is only 5 cents per pound for things like tvs, computers, and microwaves. Unused paint and the like is free for disposal. I had a huge old microwave that I had thought would cost a fortune, but it was only $5.

[imdjh]

12. Ours lets you take stuff home with you too.

They have a storelike place where you can get free oil, fuel mix, paint, cleaners and solvents and stuff. Some of it's good stuff- like five gallon drums of ceiling paint or texture that someone just didn't want in his garage anymore.