How to tackle electronic t
Reusing and recycling computers and TVs is easier than you think
By Dianne Smith
dsmith@kansan.com
My dad collects old computers. To him, they're antiques.
He says it's like owning a '55 Chevy.
He goes to garage sales on Saturday mornings and brings home computer parts of all sorts. He tinkers around with them, just as you would with an old car, and eventually pieces together a working computer.
It's a hobby, but it's also my dad's way of reducing electronic waste. He likes to save computers that other people would have thrown away. Just a couple years ago, he bought a nearly new computer from a guy at a garage sale. "The windows are broken," the guy said, referring to the Windows operating system. My dad took it home and reinstalled Windows, bringing it back to life. It was a simple fix, but one that not everyone knows is possible.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 2 million tons of electronic waste was thrown away in 2005, while only 350,000 tons was recycled. Electronic waste, or e-waste, includes computers, printers, microwaves, TVs, cell phones and other consumer electronics. About 2 billion units of consumer electronics were sold between 1980 and 2004, and about half of those products are still in use or being reused today. The other half is in storage or in landfills, or has been recycled or exported to third-world countries.
Most of my dad's random computer parts are worthless, but he does have a few prized possessions. He has a '94 Power Macintosh 7100 and an '82 Kaypro II, the first portable computer. My dad's antiques are a few of the 180 million consumer electronics still in storage. The owners don't use these products, but
they haven't gotten rid of them yet.
"There's a lot of people that have computers in our basements or cell phones in a drawer that they don't know what to do with," says Jeff Severin, director of the KU Center for Sustainability.
As much as my mom complains about the junk in the basement, electronics in storage aren't the problem. The problem comes when consumers decide to dispose of these products.
Dangers of e-waste
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, e-waste accounts for only 2 percent of the solid waste in landfills. But that 2 percent can cause a big problem. Electronics contain heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury, which can leach into groundwater after being put in landfills and escaping from the landfill's rubberized liner.
"When you put something in a landfill, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to stay there," Severin says.
Although humans do require trace amounts of some metals, heavy metals are toxic. Lead is found in the glass in TVs and computer monitors made with cathode-ray tubes, or CRTs, which were the only monitors available before flat-screen displays. Small amounts are also found in the solder and other connectors.The older CRTs contain as much as 7 lbs. of lead, while the newer ones have about 2 lbs.
Nickel-cadmium batteries were used in laptops and other portable electronics before nickel-metal hydride and lithium ion batteries were invented. Mercury is used in the bulbs that light flat-panel monitors and laptops.The EPA says all three metals can cause numerous health problems and even death in high concentrations.
Kansas "E" Recycling sorts the products it receives, such as these CRT monitors, by type when storing them in its warehouse. Because CRT monitors can contain as many as 7 lbs. of lead, it's important to recycle them.
your electronics
How to recycle
UNI Computers, 1403 W.23rd St., will accept all consumer electronics except microwaves, TVs and freestanding units such as large copiers. Dodge/Carroll Electronics, 1016 S.W. Sixth St. in Topeka, accepts the same products as UNI, but it also accepts microwaves.
If you are buying a new computer,ask the store if it will dispose of your old one.Most companies,including Best Buy,Apple,HP and Dell,will recycle your old computer for free.You can also contact the manufacturer of your old computer,as most companies will take back their products.
The City of Lawrence is sponsoring an electronic recycling drive on April 26 in the Lied Center parking lot. The details of what products will be accepted have yet to be decided, but check www.lawrencerecycles.org for more information.
Kansas "E" Recycling sponsors two recycling drives each year, usually in August and in December, which take place at the drop-off points in Lawrence and Topeka. Go to www. kansaserecycling.com for more information.
'The real recyclers'
Despite the dangers of heavy metals, the EPA reports that just 15 to 20 percent of electronics are recycled. This number has remained steadily since 1999, simply because the number of obsolete products continues to increase even as the rate of recycling increases.
In 2005, about 350 million individual electronic products, weighing 2.2 million tons, became obsolete. The average lifespan for most electronics is five years, and because of the increasing rate at which new technology is released, the number of obsolete electronics increases every year.
"Those parts and pieces take up a big part of our dumpsters," Hoins says. "Keeping these things out of landfills is the environmentally responsible thing to do." The service is available only for campus departments, not individuals or students. The computers and other electronics that KU Recycling collects are stored in a warehouse on West Campus until they can be picked up by Kansas "E" Recycling, a Lawrence-based company that prides itself on not sending anything to landfills.
To combat this problem, the University has been running its own electronic recycling program for about seven years. From July 2006 to June 2007, KU Recycling collected 5 tons of electronic waste. Celeste Hoins, administrative manager for KU Recycling, says electronic recycling is encouraged but not mandatory on campus.
"We're the real recyclers." says Brent Lee, operations manager for Kansas "E" Recycling. "We do all the bad stuff that no one wants to do."
Choosing a reputable recycler is important because many companies do what is called "asset recovery," which includes taking the parts that can be reused or sold for profit and sending the rest to landfills. Real recycling is expensive because it's labor-intensive to separate the different materials within the products.
Kansas "E" Recycling accepts almost all electronics for free. It charges $10 to recycle computer monitors and microwaves and $1 per diagonal inch for TVs, meaning that a 27-inch TV would cost $27 to recycle. These costs cover the company's labor costs,
which go to employees who painstakingly separate the plastics from the metals. Lee says the company needs volume to be successful, and will wait until it has a large amount of one element, such as metal that can be sold as scrap metal, before it gets rid of it. The company sells whatever materials it can, but most often it is just trying to break even.
"Recycling is not always profitable." Lee says, "but it's the right thing to do."
UNI Computers, 1403 W.23rd St., is Kansas "E" Recycling's only consumer drop-off point in Lawrence.The company has another drop-off point in Topeka at Dodge/Carroll Electronics, 1016 S.W.
Computers and Dodge/Carroll Electronics also hold special recycling drives during the August back-to-school season and during the December holiday season to collect microwaves and TVs.
Reduce and reuse
Repairing, reusing or donating old computers is the best way to reduce e-waste before it has to be recycled. Computer companies are making their products in a more environmentally friendly way.This
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for more information: www.kansaserecycling.com, www.lawrencerecycles.org