March 26, 2009 - Donating Computers to 3rd World Scrap Yards
I am always reading about how these great businesses and organizations in Canada and the US (and even some in Thunder Bay) are donating computers to 3rd World Countries. Although this sounds promising and a great alternative to having them scrapped in our local dumps - are the computers actually ending up in the hands of those who need them?

Most of the Countries that take these donated computers have very poor environmental laws. The precious metals used in these computers are worth more than having a working computer (what good is a computer when you don't have electricity or food on your table). So what happens? Many of these computers are scavenged through, have the precious metals removed and end up in their scrap yards.

Here are some stats:

It takes two cups of crude oil and 50 cubic feet of natural gas to manufacture every pound of plastic. Every year, computer manufacturers consume approximately one million barrels of crude oil and 7.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

The cathode ray tube is heavily loaded with lead and is considered a hazardous waste.

The proliferation of computers is creating a new problem worldwide -- a rapidly growing mountain of waste products, which needs urgent recycling. Every technological advancement triggers obsolescence in the older product. But figures show that less than six per cent of them are recycled. Many valuable resources are lost when these computers turn obsolete.

Source: www.dancewithshadows.com/computer_recycle.asp

Here are my suggestions:

1. If computers are donated, why not donate them new computers that are useful and won't be turned into scrap.
2. Don't ship them away so they become garbage somewhere else.
3. Use local sources to recycle the computers (yes it does cost a few bucks but you know it isn't ending up in a landfill)
4. Petition the manufacturers to have a end-of-life program for these computers, they make them they should recycle them. However, this would result in an added cost to the consumer. I would be willing to pay this to know that these computers are going to be polluting the environment. Some States have this tariff on printer cartridges already.

• In Thunder Bay, you can bring your old computers to Northern Computers Innovations Ltd (60 cents per pount)
• Find someone willing to recycle the computer locally, here is an ad on ThunderBayStuff.com