Posted on 08/08/2003 11:43:25 AM PDT by BulletBobCo
I (author) went shopping for a cheap printer, and the first machine that waggled its cartridges at me was the Apollo P-2200. I stared open-mouthed at the price tag: $10.
I was tempted. That $10 price tag translated to $40 with a $30 mail-in rebate. But still, 10 bucks!
I wanted that printer. I wanted a house full, a different printer for every day of the week.
The clerk caught me drooling in the aisle and talked trash to me. He told me that people were coming back after a few months and buying another one.
The printer comes loaded with full-size Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ - news - people ) ink cartridges. A new color tank sells for $31.99, a black one for $29.99. Do the math. Replacing the ink would cost $61.98.
It's cheaper to scrap the printer and buy a new one with full tanks.
We're talking a couple of pounds of plastic and metal, padded with a big wad of foam, nestled in a cardboard box the size of a Doberman, all destined for the Dumpster in two months.
This might be easy on the pocketbook, but it is devastating for the environment. It's like junking your car when the gas tank is empty - cheaper to buy a new one than to fill 'er up.
The National Recycling Coalition reports that electronic equipment makes up about 1 percent to 2 percent of municipal waste.
In 1998 only 11 percent of obsolete computers were recycled. Most old computers are stockpiled.
By next year, the National Safety Council estimates there will be 314 million obsolete computers in the United States stashed in garages and closets.
Circuit boards contain, in addition to plastic and copper, small amounts of chromium, beryllium, lead solder, nickel and zinc. All are toxic substances.
Cathode ray tubes in monitors and televisions average 5 to 8 pounds of lead per unit. Computer components already make up 40 percent of the toxic lead waste in our landfills.
So where do old computers go to die?
When it comes to electronic waste, or e-waste, recycling is often a sham. Fifty percent to 80 percent of recycled computers, analysts estimate, end up in China, India or Pakistan.
So-called recycled computers are sold for export and Third World workers, many of them children, use their bare hands, hammers and open acid baths to recover precious metals.
The scrap is dumped in waterways and fields, or burned in the open air.
The average life of a home computer is now two years, down from three to five years only a short time ago.
The advent of high-definition television and plasma TV screens is expected to precipitate a mass dumping of old sets. Even your cell phone harbors toxins.
Responsible disposal costs between $20 and $60 per computer system. If we ever get around to spring cleaning, someone - either individuals or municipalities - will foot a big bill. But there is a better way.
The European Union and several Asian nations, including Japan, have taken bold steps to make manufacturers responsible for the full life cycle of their products, through disposal.
This shifts the burden of recycling from consumers and local governments to the manufacturers, where it belongs.
In nations where this has been implemented, producers have been motivated to keep prices competitive by finding alternatives to toxic components and making their products easier to upgrade, refurbish, reuse and recycle.
There are precedents. Manufacturers are responsible for taking back lead-acid batteries used in cars and trucks. In 2002, carpet manufacturers agreed to set up a voluntary national recycling program.
Legislation to make producers responsible for the responsible disposal of obsolete electronics has been introduced in Texas and at least nine other states. In Texas, they never made it out of committee. These bills should be recycled during the next session of the Legislature.
c.2003 San Antonio Express-News
Bring them to the range and shoot them.
Legislation to make producers responsible for the responsible disposal of obsolete electronics has been introduced in Texas and at least nine other states. In Texas, they never made it out of committee. These bills should be recycled during the next session of the Legislature.
The typical Liberal "better way", bigger government.
That's 5 to 8 pounds of lead GLASS dummy.....
Biggest polluter in CRTs is the toxic phosphor in the screen.
The biggest scam is the ink carts now that have a microchip in them that handshakes with the printer to ensure that YOU don't refill the cart!!
Giddyup! That's what I'm talkin' about!
It's getting to be pretty typical for both print and TV "journalists" to headline a story as having a solution when it contains only a gripe.
Recycling the TPS machine with a Louisville Slugger? Hysterical!
Don't buy that brand. HP sells a high-end printer that has separately user-replacable ink cartridges and print heads. The ink can be refilled, although HP won't sell it. There's a whole industry devoted to HP refills.
That's 5 to 8 pounds of lead GLASS dummy.....
No that's the lead content of the glass, that's just for a 17" monitor. The amount of lead is roughly proportional to the cube of the diagonal dimention of the monitor. There are also lots of toxic rare earths in the phosphors.
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