BRIGHT MIND
HEALTHY BODY
S U S T A I N A B L E P L A N E T
HEALTHY BODY
S U S T A I N A B L E P L A N E T
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Sustainable Life Info Copyright © 2006-2008 DLH Business Associates. All rights reserved
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Sustainable Life Info Copyright © 2006-2008 DLH Business Associates. All rights reserved
So what to do with your unwanted HighTech Equipment?
R E C Y C L E - D O N A T E - R E S E L L!
Avoid throwing old gadgets in the trash, because the toxic materials in them include lead, beryllium, cadmium and flame retardants; which if crushed or burned these materials can seep into the environment and harm human health. Many states prohibit dumping electronic equipment in the trash, although the EPA maintains that most U.S. landfills include proper liners and groundwater testing to prevent leaching.
The EPAweb site helps you to determine whether you should recycle or donate your e-waste. You can also find links and resources for recycling, donating or reselling your equipment.
Recycling
Recycling can save energy and valuable resources, including the mining of precious metals and the manufacturing new plastics. There are many options today as to where to take your equipment. You can go to the EPA site for a list of manufacturers and technology companies that offer recycling and links to their programs.
Waste Management, the $13 billion garbage collection company, is planning to expand into recycling electronics. They joined Sony last year to open 75 recycling drop-off sites, and they ultimately plan to open 1,000 locations within 20 miles of 95 percent of population. The sites will charge $5 to $50, depending on the market area and size of the equipment, to recycle other brands. To find the nearest drop-off center, you can call 877-439-2795.
Staples recycles laptops, printers, monitors, computers and fax machines at its 1,400 stores for $10 each. The retailer also accepts peripherals like computer mice, keyboards, cell phones, PDAs and rechargeable batteries for free.
Dell Inc. also offers free recycling of Dell branded products with no purchase required and will recycle other branded products with the purchase of a new Dell computer.
You can take your old cell phones off at AT&T stores and cell phones, rechargeable batteries and ink cartridges at Best Buy stores. Motorola's recycling program lets you print prepaid shipping labels online and send in any brand cell phone to be recycled. Participating K-12 schools can earn money for each phone returned. The Collective Good will also collect and recycle your old cell phone.
Reselling
You might consider reselling your equipment, you can go to Rethink to get started or research prices on eBay or on classified ad sites like craigslist. For $75 and up, you can look up market prices for digital cameras, car stereos, computers and televisions at Orion Blue Book.
CellForCash.com will buy certain models of cell phones, refurbish them and resell them as warrantee phones, pre-paid phones or emergency 911 phones provided to the elderly and victims of domestic abuse. If your phone isn't one the business will buy, you can get a free shipping label, put your phone in the mailbox to CellForCash.com for recycling. Greenphone.com cuts checks and offers you points good toward gift certificates at retailers such as CircuitCity.com. See related news articles
Donating
You can donate your technology to a number of organizations, including the National Cristina Foundation. Go to their website, enter information about your old equipment (computer, laptop, fax machines, PDAs, digital cameras and other peripherals), and Cristina Foundation will search its database and connect you with local nonprofits and schools that need machines. Last year, the organization found homes for 50,000 pieces of old equipment. Through eBay Giving Works, you can sell an item and donate part or all of the final sale price to the nonprofit of your choice.
Before you sell or donate your equipment, you should clear the devices of any personal information. You can find tools online for erasing your cell phone or PDA's memory and to clear your computer hard drive. A number of companies offer software to wipe computer memory, including Blannco Data Cleaner, , WipeDrive and CyberCide Data Destruction. People can find more on wiping their hard drive on the EPA's website.
Choose carefully
Be cautious when choosing a recycler, because many recyclers ship high tech trash to Third World countries to take advantage of lax regulations, according to the Basel Action Network, an environmental nonprofit organization. The equipment collected at Best Buy, Motorola, Dell, Staples, Sony and Waste Management say it does not get shipped overseas.
Jim Puckett, director of the Basel Action Network, said many U.S. recyclers make money by collecting recycling fees and then selling the waste to brokers who ship it overseas. In China, Puckett and investigators watched workers paid $1 a day pull apart equipment by hand or hammer. Puckett says they burned wires or cooked circuit boards to pull off resellable chips, then dipped those chips in acid and poured the leftover residues straight into the rivers.
Such methods expose workers to contaminants such as lead and cadmium, a known carcinogen. Recyclers also ship computers to Africa (YouTube), where local entrepreneurs pay for second-hand machines. The vast majority of computers shipped cannot be recycled, repaired or sold and are dumped and burned, harming the environment and human health. When the plastics are burned it creates even more toxic substances such as dioxins and cancer-causing hydrocarbons.
"It's a lot easier to shunt it off to Third-World countries," Puckett said. "You really have to watch out when there is a free take-back event. Most are funneling everything offshore."
The Basel Action Network provides a list of recyclers that have promised not to dump material overseas. These recyclers have agreed to let the group monitor their recycling practices and vendors.
Source: MSNBC.com
R E C Y C L E - D O N A T E - R E S E L L!
Avoid throwing old gadgets in the trash, because the toxic materials in them include lead, beryllium, cadmium and flame retardants; which if crushed or burned these materials can seep into the environment and harm human health. Many states prohibit dumping electronic equipment in the trash, although the EPA maintains that most U.S. landfills include proper liners and groundwater testing to prevent leaching.
The EPAweb site helps you to determine whether you should recycle or donate your e-waste. You can also find links and resources for recycling, donating or reselling your equipment.
Recycling
Recycling can save energy and valuable resources, including the mining of precious metals and the manufacturing new plastics. There are many options today as to where to take your equipment. You can go to the EPA site for a list of manufacturers and technology companies that offer recycling and links to their programs.
Waste Management, the $13 billion garbage collection company, is planning to expand into recycling electronics. They joined Sony last year to open 75 recycling drop-off sites, and they ultimately plan to open 1,000 locations within 20 miles of 95 percent of population. The sites will charge $5 to $50, depending on the market area and size of the equipment, to recycle other brands. To find the nearest drop-off center, you can call 877-439-2795.
Staples recycles laptops, printers, monitors, computers and fax machines at its 1,400 stores for $10 each. The retailer also accepts peripherals like computer mice, keyboards, cell phones, PDAs and rechargeable batteries for free.
Dell Inc. also offers free recycling of Dell branded products with no purchase required and will recycle other branded products with the purchase of a new Dell computer.
You can take your old cell phones off at AT&T stores and cell phones, rechargeable batteries and ink cartridges at Best Buy stores. Motorola's recycling program lets you print prepaid shipping labels online and send in any brand cell phone to be recycled. Participating K-12 schools can earn money for each phone returned. The Collective Good will also collect and recycle your old cell phone.
Reselling
You might consider reselling your equipment, you can go to Rethink to get started or research prices on eBay or on classified ad sites like craigslist. For $75 and up, you can look up market prices for digital cameras, car stereos, computers and televisions at Orion Blue Book.
CellForCash.com will buy certain models of cell phones, refurbish them and resell them as warrantee phones, pre-paid phones or emergency 911 phones provided to the elderly and victims of domestic abuse. If your phone isn't one the business will buy, you can get a free shipping label, put your phone in the mailbox to CellForCash.com for recycling. Greenphone.com cuts checks and offers you points good toward gift certificates at retailers such as CircuitCity.com. See related news articles
Donating
You can donate your technology to a number of organizations, including the National Cristina Foundation. Go to their website, enter information about your old equipment (computer, laptop, fax machines, PDAs, digital cameras and other peripherals), and Cristina Foundation will search its database and connect you with local nonprofits and schools that need machines. Last year, the organization found homes for 50,000 pieces of old equipment. Through eBay Giving Works, you can sell an item and donate part or all of the final sale price to the nonprofit of your choice.
Before you sell or donate your equipment, you should clear the devices of any personal information. You can find tools online for erasing your cell phone or PDA's memory and to clear your computer hard drive. A number of companies offer software to wipe computer memory, including Blannco Data Cleaner, , WipeDrive and CyberCide Data Destruction. People can find more on wiping their hard drive on the EPA's website.
Choose carefully
Be cautious when choosing a recycler, because many recyclers ship high tech trash to Third World countries to take advantage of lax regulations, according to the Basel Action Network, an environmental nonprofit organization. The equipment collected at Best Buy, Motorola, Dell, Staples, Sony and Waste Management say it does not get shipped overseas.
Jim Puckett, director of the Basel Action Network, said many U.S. recyclers make money by collecting recycling fees and then selling the waste to brokers who ship it overseas. In China, Puckett and investigators watched workers paid $1 a day pull apart equipment by hand or hammer. Puckett says they burned wires or cooked circuit boards to pull off resellable chips, then dipped those chips in acid and poured the leftover residues straight into the rivers.
Such methods expose workers to contaminants such as lead and cadmium, a known carcinogen. Recyclers also ship computers to Africa (YouTube), where local entrepreneurs pay for second-hand machines. The vast majority of computers shipped cannot be recycled, repaired or sold and are dumped and burned, harming the environment and human health. When the plastics are burned it creates even more toxic substances such as dioxins and cancer-causing hydrocarbons.
"It's a lot easier to shunt it off to Third-World countries," Puckett said. "You really have to watch out when there is a free take-back event. Most are funneling everything offshore."
The Basel Action Network provides a list of recyclers that have promised not to dump material overseas. These recyclers have agreed to let the group monitor their recycling practices and vendors.
Source: MSNBC.com
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