Islands in the Wastestream

In the United States, fewer than 15 percent of discarded computers are actually recycled. Instead, most are stored, dumped overseas, or go into landfills and eventually into groundwater. By 2007, the US will be awash in 500 million defunct computers and monitors.

Jim Lynch, Senior Program Manager for Computer Recycling and Reuse at CompuMentor, believes there are a number of good ways to extend the life of those computers we no longer use. In his recently released report on computer recycling entitled "Islands in the Wastestream ", he discusses the business of PC recycling, the environment, and ways to get more technology into the hands of those who need it.

Thanks to the report, nonprofits and some major corporations are recognizing that a well-developed computer-recycling field is a key prerequisite to bridging the digital divide and disposing of computers in a more environmentally conscious way. Lynch's report has received national attention and generated a tremendous response from people working in the nonprofit computer-refurbishing field, as well as big computer companies like Dell and Hewlett-Packard, environmental organizations like Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and Basel Action Network, from the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the White House Taskforce on Recycling.

Lynch concludes that recycling retired computers is not the most environmentally conscious way to dispose of them. Refurbishing adds another two to three years of life to PCs, while recycling involves grinding, shredding, and smelting them to recover some of the glass, metals, and plastics -- creating toxic waste in the process.

"Producing the average 53-pound desktop computer and monitor requires 530 pounds of fossil fuels, 50 pounds of chemicals, and 3300 pounds of water (due to the repeated rinsing necessary)," Lynch said in his report. "These amounts are roughly the weight of a sport utility vehicle or 1.8 metric tons. In contrast, the ongoing energy costs associated with owning a computer are relatively low --roughly the same as a refrigerator. Reselling or upgrading computers saves five to 20 times more energy than recycling over the computer's life cycle. It's much better for the environment to use a computer for an extra two or three years than to buy a new one every three to four years."

Currently, United States national policy makes donating computers one of the least-attractive options for business interested in responsibly disposing of their machines. There is virtually no tax benefit under current IRS law and disposal costs run between $85 and $136 per computer. Though the United States is ahead of most countries when it comes to technological innovation, it supplies a mere 1 or 2 percent of its old computers to schools, while Canada supplies 25 percent.

"Islands in the Wastestream" challenges the widely held assumption that used computers are largely junk that aren't useful to schools, nonprofits, or low-income families. In fact, three- to four-year-old Pentium III computers are perfectly suitable to meet the needs of these groups.

"CompuMentor research indicates demand for approximately 500,000 computers in nonprofits, schools, microenterprises, and low-income families in the Bay Area," said Lynch. "Nationally, this demand is estimated at 28 million computers. Low-cost, refurbished computers could provide a highly viable opportunity to narrow this digital divide."