Life-cycling PCs on JumbleTown

[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.

[Fries-With-That]

Hi Chris,

I couldn't agree more with the sentiments expressed in the above article.

The P.C. I am using to send this message came from our local bring centre where it would have ended up in landfill.

Its a perfectly functional Compaq Presario, I got the tower with a full office software package, the monitor, a cordless mouse and keyboard, speakers and all the leads and cables.

I was putting glass into the recycling bank when the guy arrived with this in his car.Being the friendly chap that I am I struck up a conversation with him and he told me the reason he was dumping the P.C. was because he had just gotten a new laptop and if I wanted the pc I was more than welcome to have it.

He was of the opinion that, because it was more than 3 years old it was only fit for the dump.

It makes one wonder how much other stuff has ended up in landfill because people don't realise everything has a reusable value to someone.

Fries.

[Jemima]

Hi
I have just recently put together a full system for my friend who apart from not being able to afford a new computer I felt should try and get one together from Jumbletown.

As I had more time to be online, I volunteered. I have just collected a tower today, I got a keyboard and mouse from a member at the Mater hospital (thanks John) a printer from a member in Santry (thanks Anthony) and a fantasticly modern monitor in town. Yes I did have to go to and fro and spend time arranging collection (whilst running 2 businesses and 3 children) but as of tomorrow my friend will have a perfectly good computer system.

What a shame more people dont put together all these perfectly good bits instead of them ending up in the dump.

Hopefully this will encourage people to do the same (it only took me just under 2 weeks to get a full computer system).

Come on JumbleTowners, spread the word!

[Chris P]

Jemima...

[Jemima]

Not at all.
Thanks to Jumbletown for giving me the platform to make it possible.

And as with life its all swings and roundabouts. I gave stuff away that I just couldnt justify throwing out and hopefully made someone elses day in the process.

[Chris P]

"Dirty Business: E-waste in Nigeria"
From bbc.com (December 2006)

Here’s an interesting audio-piece from the BBC concerning the devastating effects of e-waste in Nigeria. Once again, it shows that JumbleTown's ethos of life-cycling (re-using) before costly recycling can play an important role in protecting the environment.

Introduction:

Vast amounts of waste are exported daily from the industrialised world to developing countries - all in the name of recycling.

But much of this trade is illegal, dangerous and environmentally disastrous to the countries who receive it.

Read on and listen here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...ve/6214888.stm

[jackbauer]

was recently at the recycling center at ballyogan [south county dublin]. saw pile of pc stuff and made a beeline. staff member says "sorry mate u cant touch that gear -- its goin' to china!"

[Chris P]

Originally Posted by Chris P

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.")

I see that Lenovo, the Chinese PC maker, has received a much more positive "Green" Report Card, from Greenpeace. The Report Card ranks firms by how green their production processes are and what they do to recycle hardware they sell. Figures just released show that Lenovo has risen from the bottom of the class (see quote box above) to the top of the class (see below).

Meanwhile, Apple has gone from second worst to worst, though their score remains the same.

1) Lenovo: 8
2) Nokia: 7.3
3=) Sony/Ericsson: 7
3=) Dell: 7
5=) Samsung: 6.3
5=) Motorola: 6.3
7) Fujitsu/Siemens: 6
8) Hewlett-Packard: 5.6
9) Acer: 5.3
10) Toshiba: 4.3
11) Sony: 4
12=) LG Electronics: 3.6
12=) Panasonic: 3.6
14) Apple: 2.7

More details from BBC online here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6525307.stm

[derek51082]

Hi,

Im always playing around with computers,,, its like a hobby,
The recycling centre near me has loads of used computers dumped there all the time and the guy that works there wont let me take any of it.. saying they's be responsible if it caught fire in my house ..
Does anyone know if this is true


Please any information would be grateful
thanks

[unapam]

Originally Posted by Fries-With-That

Hi Chris,

I couldn't agree more with the sentiments expressed in the above article.

The P.C. I am using to send this message came from our local bring centre where it would have ended up in landfill.

Its a perfectly functional Compaq Presario, I got the tower with a full office software package, the monitor, a cordless mouse and keyboard, speakers and all the leads and cables.

I was putting glass into the recycling bank when the guy arrived with this in his car.Being the friendly chap that I am I struck up a conversation with him and he told me the reason he was dumping the P.C. was because he had just gotten a new laptop and if I wanted the pc I was more than welcome to have it.

He was of the opinion that, because it was more than 3 years old it was only fit for the dump.

It makes one wonder how much other stuff has ended up in landfill because people don't realise everything has a reusable value to someone.

Fries.

What a shame that so many end up dumped instead of reusing the useful parts.
Our grandchildren will be amazed at the waste of all resources at this time. When are we going to call a halt to it all?...When it's too late?

[Eibhlin ni Sheambrai]

Originally Posted by derek51082

Hi,
Im always playing around with computers,,, its like a hobby,
The recycling centre near me has loads of used computers dumped there all the time and the guy that works there wont let me take any of it.. saying they's be responsible if if caught fire in my house ..
Does anyone know if this is true


Please any information would be gratefull
thannks

I checked with my local recycling centre in Athlone and the guy said that once you pay your money and enter the site, everything belongs to the company that runs it. However they sometimes turn a 'blind eye' if someone is taking something. The guy did tell me that they cannot let any pc's leave the site as people complained of unwelcome contact from companies who got their details off the hard drive and also details of friends. I don't know a lot about computers but I presume to protect your identity it would be essential to delete everything before recycling a pc?

[TickTock]

I've been told by a few computer experts that it is virtually impossible to guarantee that everything has been deleted from the hard drive - a lot of people are doing internet banking now and that makes it quite a security risk to hand on a hard drive, doesn't it?

I know there are programs out there, and downloads, etc., that you can use to wipe your stuff off, but it still is no guarantee.........so, who knows what you might leave behind, and you just know of course its not going to be something useless, probably your bank details.

I wish Bill Gates had sorted this out before he retired!!!

[Gormal]

Well I guess that's why they tell you to remove the hard drive from your pc before disposing of it. There is software that will wipe the drive but it's not from Microsoft.......lol like the delete function in windows... it only removes it from your view, it's still on the hard drive!!

[SMcE]

I read an article in the travel supp in the Irish Times by Manchan (I can't spell his name) O' (something!) sorry. He gave his old laptop to Camara, who used military standard technology to wipe the memory and sent it to be used by trained teachers in Africa. I am thinking of doing this with my old laptop, has anyone heard any bad stories about this process?? Seemed all good to me.

S

[Chris P]

Originally Posted by SMcE

I read an article in the travel supp in the Irish Times by Manchan (I can't spell his name) O' (something!) sorry. He gave his old laptop to Camara, who used military standard technology to wipe the memory and sent it to be used by trained teachers in Africa. I am thinking of doing this with my old laptop, has anyone heard any bad stories about this process?? Seemed all good to me.

S

For those who are interested, here's Camara's website:
http://camara.ie/web/