[AktiviX] PCs: the latest waste mountain

[Paul Mobbs]

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1164497,00.html

PCs: the latest waste mountain

Ian Sample, science correspondent
The Guardian, Monday March 8, 2004


First it was the fridge mountain, then it was the tyre mountain. Now discarded 
computers have got environmentalists worried.

According to a study released today our relentless appetite for buying new 
computers - and the ease with which we throw out old ones - is having a major 
impact on the environment. Instead of dumping our old computers after a few 
years, we should be using them for longer, or selling them on secondhand to 
reduce demand for new ones, the authors say.

Scientists at the UN university in Tokyo estimate that to make a new computer 
requires at least 10 times its weight in fossil fuels and chemicals.

The manufacture of one computer consumes 240kg of fossil fuels, 22kg of 
chemicals and 1,500kg of water.

Car manufacturing is far less energy intensive, says the study, with each 
vehicle requiring at most twice its weight in fossil fuels.

Computers have found their way into nearly every home and office, yet sales 
keep soaring. In 2002, the number of personal computers in the world topped 
1bn and sales continue to rise at around 130m a year.

"It's hard to imagine life without one of these indispensable 21st century 
tools, but it is exactly because they have become so ubiquitous that we must 
be aware of the negative impacts of the PC boom," said Eric Williams, an 
expert in the environmental impact of technology and co-author of the study.

The study criticises governments for concentrating on recycling instead of 
introducing measures to reduce the numbers of new computers people buy, or 
encouraging them to buy secondhand machines.

"It's more effective to try and reduce and reuse things first and then worry 
about recycling," said Dr Williams.

The study calls for governments to introduce tax breaks for people buying used 
computers instead of new ones. "A lot of computer manufacturers sell used 
computers with warranties, but many people are simply not aware of it," he 
added.

European legislation demands that when computers are finally taken to the tip, 
70% of the materials used to make them is recycled.

Copper, gold and silver can all be recovered from discarded computers. But 
tonnes of old desktop PCs are still shipped to developing countries for 
recycling, where the processes used - such as baths of acid to strip metals 
from circuit boards - can be environmentally damaging.

Without incentives to make computers last longer, their environmental impact 
will continue to grow.

"People normally keep fridges for 15 years, but you see computers getting 
thrown out after just three years, so five times as many computers are being 
dumped. We're certainly looking at a worsening problem," said Dr Williams.

The study also calls on computer manufacturers to help extend the useful 
lifetime of their machines by making them easier to upgrade, so instead of 
having to completely replace them, people can simply buy new parts.

But, as Andrew Blazer, who studies environmental impact at Imperial College, 
London, points out, companies will only change their practices if there is 
something in it for them.

"Unless there's a benefit to business, it won't be done. It's all very well 
for the UN to bleat, but business will only change if there's an incentive," 
he said.



==========

"We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government, nor are we for
this party nor against the other but we are for justice and mercy and
truth and peace and true freedom, that these may be exalted in our nation,
and that goodness, righteousness, meekness, temperance, peace and unity
with God, and with one another, that these things may abound."
(Edward Burroughs, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')


Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations,
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
tel./fax (+44/0)1295 261864

email - mobbsey at gn.apc.org
website - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mobbsey/index.html



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