[Chris P]

The importance of life-cycling (re-using) PCs before sending them into costly recycling and landfill schemes was highlighted recently in an Irish Times article by John Collins ("Computer firms urged to focus energies on efficiency" [29-9-06]).

Here are the main points of John's article:

(1) Only 2-3 per cent of PCs are recycled properly.

(2) 500 million PCs have been sent to landfill or incinerated in the past 25 years.

(3) Producing an average car requires twice its finished weight in raw materials; producing a PC consumes 28 times the weight of the finished product.

(4) Hundreds of thousands of PCs are exported (often illegally) from western industrialised countries to "developing" countries for disassembly. As a result, low-paid workers at scrapyards, some of them children, are exposed to toxic chemicals and poisons (see pic below).

(4) Tech Company "Green" Report Card:

COMPANY SCORE
-Nokia & Dell: 7.0 out of 10
-Apple: 2.7 out of 10
-Motorola: 1.7 out of 10
-Lenovo/IBM: 1.3 out of 10

(These figures are from Greenpeace's "Guide to Greener Electronics.")

The Irish Times article clearly shows that life-cycling or re-using a PC before recycling it or sending it to landfill makes a huge amount of sense.

Remember that an OECD report in March 2006 said that Ireland produces more waste per capita (760 kg) than any other developed nation in world, including the USA. In June, Forfas (an advisory body to the Irish Government) published a report which claimed that the "waste picture" was even worse -- 777kg per capita (around 120 stone).

Here at JumbleTown, we are trying to dispel the notion that the Irish are the biggest shower of wasters in the world! By Giving and Taking, JumbleTowners are playing their part to protect the environment. Well done, guys! Keep it up!

Regards
Chris P
(Admin)

PICS BELOW:
(1) Don't waste a perfectly good PC
(2) A child sits on a pile of imported PC waste (Hunan, China)
See post #7 below by JumbleTowner jackbauer for more on the Ireland/China connection.