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Earth911.com is your one-stop shop for all you need to know about reducing your impact, reusing what you've got and recycling your trash. Get involved in our world by checking in for daily news, reading weekly feature stories, surfing product channels and opting into our weekly emails.Earth911.com is your one-stop shop for all you need to know about reducing your impact, reusing what you've got and recycling your trash. Get involved in our world by checking in for daily news, reading weekly feature stories, surfing product channels and opting into our weekly emails.

IBM yesterday announced the top five technologies developed under its Corporate Environmental Innovation Program in the past year, the five solutions that can have a significant impact on energy efficiency or environmental impacts. Of the top five, only three are traditional IT-related technologies, with the remaining two falling under what has become known as "Green IT 2.0," or technologies that can be applied to business operations beyond the data center or computer fleet, putting computing power to work on the firm's environmental footprint. Blog post by Matthew Wheeland, 11/11/09.

Solar energy may be one of the most important technologies in the 21st century, but the rapid pace of technology innovation has us often moving on to the next thing without a glance at what's been left behind. New advancements in clean technology can offer extraordinary possibilities, but often at unpredictable costs. Less than one year ago, we published a report about the lack of regulations on nanotechnology which can contaminate air and water causing unknown impacts on human health and the environment.

Product Stewardship Oregon E-Cycles is an example of product stewardship. Product stewardship means that all parties involved in designing, manufacturing, selling and using a product take responsibility for environmental impacts at every stage of that product's life. Here's how the responsibilities are shared under Oregon E-Cycles.

Collectively, state and local government purchase more than $35 billion worth of technology equipment annually*, and has the opportunity to provide leadership in the environmentally sound and cost effective management of electronic assets. The State Electronics Challenge (SEC) is a voluntary program that encourages state, regional, and local governments, including schools and other public entities, to: Purchase greener electronic products. Reduce the impacts of electronic products during use. Manage obsolete electronics in an environmentally safe way.

Public policy association for consumer electronics retailers. Outlines retailer positions on digital television issues, CERC realizes that consumer electronic recycling is on the forefront of the environmental communities' mind. How our nation addresses environmental issues in all walks of life over the next decade is a top global priority. As it particularly impacts our industry, CE retailers realize that they have an important role in working with other stakeholders and being active participants in developing and advocating for a successful national consumer electronics management system that we realize will have to be implemented at the local level.

Product stewardship is a term used to describe a product-centered approach to environmental protection. It calls on those in the product life cycle -- from designers, manufacturers, retailers, consumers, waste managers and disposers -- to share responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of products. Product stewardship activities have been taking place globally for over a decade. In the United States, this idea is gaining interest as more state and local governments cope with large, ever-changing, and complex waste streams.

Product Stewardship is an environmental management strategy that means whoever designs, produces, sells, or uses a product takes responsibility for minimizing the product's environmental impact throughout all stages of the products' life cycle.

Environmental protection is a priority for the conservation of precious natural resources and the continued health of our planet. Apple recognizes its responsibility as a global citizen and is continually striving to reduce the environmental impact of the work we do and the products we create. Apple's Carbon FootprintEnvironmental protection is a priority for the conservation of precious natural resources and the continued health of our planet. Apple recognizes its responsibility as a global citizen and is continually striving to reduce the environmental impact of the work we do and the products we create.

A new study analyzing the Amazon Kindle electronic book reader's impact on the environment suggests that, on average, the carbon emitted over the life of the device is offset after the first year of use.

Scientific American, 7/17/09, article by Larry Greenemeier. Most people assume that their trash ends up in a landfill somewhere far away (if they think about this at all). But growing concern over the environmental impact of waste-discarded electronics, in particular-has prompted a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to take a high-tech approach to studying exactly what people are tossing out and where those items are ending up. The researchers, part of MIT's Senseable City Lab, have developed electronic tags that they're hoping as many as 3,000 volunteers in Seattle and New York City will affix to different items they throw away this summer as part of the Trash Track program. These tags will contact cell phone towers they pass as they flow through the trash stream to their final destinations, helping the researchers monitor the patterns and costs of urban disposal.

The emerging category of "green" electronics has captured consumers' attention in the past year. They are beginning to understand the various environmental and health impacts of the plethora of devices they interact with on a daily basis, according to research from the Natural Marketing Institute. Consumers are most anxious that their devices are difficult to recycle, but their concern differs by device, with almost 60 percent of consumers concerned that televisions are difficult to recycle, and only slightly over 40 percent of consumers stating that phones are difficult to recycle, according to the 2008 LOHAS Consumer Trends Database.

Collective concern from businesses, municipalities, environmentalists and manufacturers over the hazards of e-waste has led to a search for ways to reduce its environmental impact. With a greater need for programs that handle collection and disposal of used electronics products in a way that is safest for the environment, product stewardship is emerging as a viable and cost-efficient strategy for doing so, placing the responsibility for a product's proper disposal on the shoulders of the company that makes or sells the product, or even upon the purchaser. The concept can be applied to a range of products, from paints and prescription medication to batteries and computers. Written by Carl Smith, CEO of the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation, 7/22/09.

Living in an age of disposability has led many durable goods manufacturers to explore ways of reducing the environmental footprint their products leave during their manufacturing process and throughout their lifecycle. The sheer volume of mobile phones produced annually and the propensity of users to chase mobile technology trends leads to an average replacement cycle of between 12 and 18 months, bringing special attention to the greening efforts of mobile device manufacturers. As consumer awareness and environmental legislation continue to evolve, handset vendors are developing their corporate responsibility initiatives to develop new business practices aimed at improving the compliance and environmental sustainability of their handsets. The European commission and industry-led initiatives have made great progress in developing a set of requirements and goals for developing sustainable business practices across the entire life cycle of handset production, distribution, use and disposal. This study identifies and explores key global handset initiatives and the handsets that are coming to market as a result of vendors' efforts to minimize their environmental impact. It also offers an analysis of US consumer interest, awareness and preferences of green handset vendor initiatives. Available for purchase from ABI Research at this URL.

When the electronic products reach the end of the lifecycle, it often happens that businesses end up storing their IT assets in the closet to avoid the risk of getting their data breached. Or at other times, they just dispose them without giving a second thought. But this is not the right way of treating your e-waste. Because gathering dust over your used electronics will depreciate its substantial value and on the other hand improper disposition will add to hazardous impact on the environment - you definitely don't want both to happen. So, what should you do next? To help your business minimize risk and maximise ROI on retired IT assets, Veracity World has listed out some holistic solutions for IT asset management. Evaluate these options and get the best out of each obsolete or used electronic product.

Book edited by Ruediger Kuehr and Eric Williams; "Collecting perspectives from manufacturers, recyclers, environmental scientists and policy analysts, the volume presents a set of analyses on issues important for understanding and planning response to the environmental challenges posed by computers."; this page includes table of contents and link to ordering information

Book and book chapters added to Refworks database.