Computer Recycling Industry: A National Disgrace
Charles
Industrialized nations are experiencing a global slowdown while
thousands become unemployed daily. Many newly unemployed are skilled
technical workers, with the majority having used a personal computer
at work.
These workstations will become idle, along with millions of others,
and will soon be considered obsolete. Their ultimate destination will
be the e-waste recycling bin, to be dismantled or shredded.
There is a disgrace that comes with shredding and dismantling of old
computers that we fail to recognize. Nearly all laptops and
notebooks, and most desktops dating back to the Pentium II, are still
useful tools for poor students in developing nations.
In fact, any computer than can connect to the Internet is a virtual
encyclopedia, and a valued commodity to poor and struggling students
in developing nations.
Computers which we consider obsolete, along with older CRT monitors
which we consider toxic, are being reconditioned to bring prices
upward of $200 (USD) each in developing nations.
Why then, in the United States and other developed nations, are these
computers being shredded, and their basic components melted down and
recycled?
Computer service technicians in developed nations prefer to work with
new equipment, often refusing to repair or refurbish anything more
than a few years old.
It is more cost effective to destroy a used computer than to
recondition and ship it where it is needed for education. Once
shipped, distribution procedures must be monitored
for abuse.
Assisting students in developing nations with our unwanted technology
requires our time, expertise, and money. Recycling and reusing our old
technology becomes a charitable service, more so than a concern for
the the bottom line, or an environmental excuse.
In the short run, it is more cost effective to destroy and recycle our
used technology than to reuse it effectively, yet in the meantime,
poor students in developing nations continue to struggle without the
tools necessary for achievement in the global marketplace.
--
Charles DiBella lives and works in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where he
teaches young adults from extreme poverty. He is the founder and
administrator of the Nonprofit Recycling and Reuse Network, a computer
technology, and office equipment exchange network for schools,
churches, and nonprofit organizations located at
http://www.Recycles.Org
Janet Hawtin
> There is a disgrace that comes with shredding and dismantling of old
> computers that we fail to recognize. Nearly all laptops and
> notebooks, and most desktops dating back to the Pentium II, are still
> useful tools for poor students in developing nations.
>
> In fact, any computer than can connect to the Internet is a virtual
> encyclopedia, and a valued commodity to poor and struggling students
> in developing nations.
There are organisations which do refurbish and distribute computers.
Sometimes they are distributed to schools or people within the
countries they come from.
There are costs associated with shipping computers overseas.
There are also concerns about sending older tech overseas in case it
is seen as dumping
into other nations. People do do it but are careful about doing it well.
I think saying that a whole sector is a national disgrace, and not
being specific about which nation
is a pretty broad brush. If your interest is in finding groups which
do recycle you could
perhaps ask a question rather than posting a criticism.
Janet
Brent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=625LPUACix0
http://www.freegeek.org/
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http://digitalsynapse.co.nz
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Chris Harvey
http://teacherman79.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/driving-to-sweet-grassgettin-some-puters/
Check out his twitpics
http://twitpic.com/jx2n
Warm Regards
Chris Harvey