The Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which is making an
effort
to be greener in 2009
, officially kicks off this morning - and already the
eco-announcements are piling up. Electronics makers are claiming their hardware
is more energy efficient than the next, manufacturers are launching recycling
programs, and devices that just make your life easier (such as navigation
services) are being painted as green.
The typical American home contains 24 consumer electronic products, the
latest
statistics
show: Televisions, computers, cell phones, digital cameras, game
consoles, plus all their beeping cousins.
Holiday gift-giving doesn't just widen the stream of gadgets and gizmos. It
makes orphans of the old stuff.
Got a great deal on an LCD television for Christmas? Upgraded to a faster PC?
Unwrapped a Blu-ray to replace that standard DVD player?
Each item likely displaces another, leaving behind a heap of electro-rubble.
Last year, Americans shoved aside an estimated 27 million outdated or
unwanted televisions, and 205 million computers and chunks of related hardware
(printers, mice, etc.), according to the Environmental Protection Agency. We
crammed most of this e-waste inside a million basements, or stuffed it in the
trash.
New e-waste recycling laws passed in Oregon and Washington take effect on New
Year's Day, requiring electronics manufacturers to recycled old hardware, and
promising to spur the growth of responsible e-waste disposal.
The laws, which passed
in mid-2007 in Oregon
and in 2006 in Washington, require
manufacturers to pay for the recycling of their electronics products sold in
each state, and is expected to collect as much as 12 million pounds of
electronics in Oregon and about 25 million in Washington in the first year
alone.
The new laws are among the toughest in the country, and highlight what
e-waste and public health advocates say is the best solution to the country's --
and the planet's -- enormous e-waste problem. As we found in researching
electronic waste in 2008's State of Green Business report, the mountain of
potentially valuable
(and often toxic) electronic waste is
growing substantially faster than companies and governments are able to collect
and recycle it.
In the wake of a
harshly critical government report
and an
eye-opening exposé
on television's 60 Minutes newsmagazine,
e-waste has spent a lot of time in the limelight this year. And the new laws
promise to help turn the tide from what activist groups have called "anarchy" in
the e-waste takeback market.
With Christmas just days away and the end of the year looming, many individuals and organizations are thinking about "green" New Year's resolutions and the best ways of recycling obsolete
computers and other hardware. TechSoup Global's GreenTech
initiative is here just in the nick of time with its "Top 10" list of
tips to make more environmentally conscious choices in technology product
recycling, and with "green" IT practices you can implement year-round.">http://rss.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032091/device/rss/rss.xml
One of the thorniest problems with Green IT is what to do with all the computers, monitors, hardware, and other electronics your company no longer needs. You may think that you've solved the problem by choosing a responsible recycler or asset management firm. But according to a recent 60 Minutes segment, that e-waste may end up in unregulated toxic waste dumps in China that foul the land, water, and air, cause cancers and miscarriages, and endanger children. Includes video of a 60 minutes segment following the illegal trail of e-waste from a recycler in Colorado to China. Article by Preston Gralla, Greener Computing, 11/19/08.
As more organizations worldwide come to see the value of investing in eco-friendlier hardware, PC vendors are jockeying for the right to lay claim to the greenest wares. Proving a central weapon in this battle is the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) registry. Plenty of companies are finding the tool invaluable for finding green machines that meet their particular needs. The problem is, some vendors -- intentionally or otherwise -- might be abusing the system to make themselves and their wares look greener.
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