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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.

"Developing nations will produce more e-waste than developed ones by 2016"

"Tsunami of e-waste could swamp developing countries, report warns "

E-waste comprises discarded electronic appliances, of which computers and mobile telephones are disproportionately abundant because of their short lifespan. The current global production of E-waste is estimated to be 20-25 million tonnes per year, with most E-waste being produced in Europe, the United States and Australasia. China, Eastern Europe and Latin America will become major E-waste producers in the next ten years. Miniaturisation and the development of more efficient cloud computing networks, where computing services are delivered over the internet from remote locations, may offset the increase in E-waste production from global economic growth and the development of pervasive new technologies.

Two Democratic U.S. Senators -- Amy Klobuchar of Minn. and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York -- introduced earlier this month legislation aimed at funding R&D efforts to improve to recycle e-waste and develop best practices and innovation in greener design of electronics. The Electronic Device Recycling Research and Development Act, a nearly identical version of which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in April, provides almost $85 million over the next three years to help spur the growth of electronics recycling practices in the U.S. The bill, S. 1397, includes four main initiatives: providing grants for R&D into e-waste processes and practices, funding research into environmentally friendly materials for use in electronics, establishing educational curricula for engineering students at all levels to incorporate green design practices into electronics, and publishing a report from the National Academy of Sciences laying out the good and the bad in the current state of electronics recycling.

"Circuit boards are commonly found in electronics in consumer and industrial products, including computers and cell phones. Manufacturers commonly produce circuit boards with flame-retardant chemicals to help ensure fire safety. Some flame-retardant chemicals, however, can be harmful if released into the environment. To better understand the issue, the electronics industry is engaging with other stakeholders in a partnership with Design for the Environment to better understand the full range of options for flame retarding circuit boards...The electronics industry is forming this partnership to develop information that will improve their understanding of the environmental and human health impacts of new and current materials that can be used to meet the fire safety requirements for circuit boards. This information will be presented to allow industry to consider these impacts along with cost and performance of circuit boards as they review alternative materials and technologies. The participation of all relevant stakeholders is critical to developing the information for this partnership." Site includes general project information, milestones, publications and a list of partners.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., have introduced legislation that would promote research and development of programs to improve the recycling of electronic equipment. The Electronic Device Recycling Research and Development Act would provide research grants to find ways to deal with electronic waste, much of which contains hazardous materials including lead and cadmium.

UK: The Environment Agency is to lead a new international crime group as part of Interpol to help tackle illegal dumping of electrical waste on developing countries. The Interpol Global Crime Group is a worldwide intelligence-led operation which includes environmental crime investigators in the United States and Europe such as the US Environmental Protection Agency. The group will investigate links between organised criminal networks and the "waste tourists" travelling to countries like Britain to arrange the export of waste to developing countries.

Website creation is not a small process. It usually takes times and also needs specific skills. Only the most basic website needs to additional technical skills. If you aim to create a website for business marketing or promotion then your website must be attractive so that it can catch the attention of majority of people.

This bill proposes to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants for electronic device recycling research, development, and demonstration projects, and for other purposes. Passed the U.S. House of Representatives and has been received by the Senate, as of 5/28/09. This page links to the full text of the bill and outlines bill actions.

If you have noticed the trend in environment, you would have seen that people are now getting dependent on hand held devices. They are using it for completing almost all tasks of the day. Whether it is sending that important business mail or chatting through social media, smart phones make everything possible.

"Mobile phones, computers, TVs - we like them but where do they go when we are finished with them? In the worst case they can be dismantled by hand for scrap by children in developing countries. This can expose them to potentially fatal chemicals. New legislation aims to toughen existing rules on collection and treatment so that within six years 85% of all waste will be recovered and treated. Environment Committee MEPs backed the proposals on June 22."

"ewlett Packard has become the latest company to release some of its intellectual property to the public good, with three green patents added to the Eco-Patent Commons today. The Commons is an initiative managed by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development to encourage firms to share their innovations that have environmental benefits."

"Forecast of e-waste surge in developing countries prompts call to rethink export ban "

Windows 7, an operating system developed by Microsoft, is the latest version in the series of Windows operating systems that is used on PCs, laptops, notebooks and tablet PCs. It is faster than the earlier versions of the Windows operating system.